BioEcoAgro Joint Cross-Border Research Unit
Team 2

Team 2

Integrated functioning of the soil-plant system and exchanges between the ecosystem and the hydrosphere and the atmosphere

Team 2 studies the interactions between agro-environmental factors (climate, soil, agricultural practices) and the exchange of gases (greenhouse effect or reagents), water, minerals and energy in crop production systems and at their interface with the hydrosphere and the atmosphere.

Bernard Longdoz, University of Liege, and Joël Léonard, INRAE, Team 2 leaders
Bernard Longdoz, University of Liege, and Joël Léonard, INRAE, Team 2 leaders

Innovative cropping systems which aim to optimize the ecosystem services of crops, in particular their impact on the environment, simultaneously mobilize different levers, for example the management of soil cover and crop residues, tillage, fertilization, choice of crops and rotation. In particular, under the future climate in the years to come, the aim is to improve soil carbon storage, the efficiency of nitrogen use, reduce N2O emissions, make room for the production of renewable carbon, while retaining ambitious objectives of maintaining productivity (in quantity and quality) or limiting the use of pesticides.

The better understanding of the interactions between agricultural practices and the flow of elements or energy, the modelling of these interactions, should make it possible to identify the systems and practices offering the best compromises, according to the objectives and the climatic and agronomic context and its evolution.