[PhD student] Margot Challand: Combining participatory approaches and constrained modelling to design agroecological systems

Combining participatory approaches and constrained modelling to design agroecological systems

I'm a PhD student in the AbSys unit at the Intitut Agro. During my training as an agricultural engineer at the Institut Supérieur d'Agronomie Rhône-Alpes, I specialized in innovation and agro-ecological transition. During my apprenticeship, I had the opportunity to work on cross-disciplinary projects, and I discovered my interest in research and IT.
My thesis involves combining participatory approaches and constraint modeling to design agroecological systems. I chose to work on this subject because it's an opportunity for me both to strengthen my skills in scientific research methodology, and to devote my energy to a subject I'm passionate about, while contributing to the ecological transition.

• Starting date : 1st December 2021
• University : L’Institut Agro
• PhD school : GAIA (Biodiversité, Agriculture, Alimentation, Environnement, Terre, Eau)
• Discipline / Spécialité : IT, agronomy
• Thesis management: Stéphane de Tourdonnet, UMR ABSys, Institut Agro
• Thesis management: Stéphane de Tourdonnet (UMR Innovation, Institut Agro), Vismara Philippe (UMR Mistea, Institut Agro)
• Funding: #DigitAg – Institut Agro
• #DigitAg : Cofunded thesis – Axe 2 : Innovations en agriculture numérique, Challenge 1 : Le challenge agroécologique

Keywords: Agroecological transition, artificial intelligence, simulation, co-design, participatory evaluation, orchards, market gardening

Abstract: Addressing the challenges of agriculture in a context of global changes, loss of biodiversity and depletion of fossil resources requires a profound renewal of agricultural systems. Agroecology proposes to base the design of agricultural systems on the enhancement of ecological functionalities. This requires reintroducing biodiversity into agrosystems, adapting practices to the local context and combining knowledge (scientific, expert and operational). Agroecology experiments around the world have shown that increasing the complexity of agrosystems increases their resilience, reduces dependence on synthetic inputs, provides ecosystem services and thus improves their performance. But these experiences have also shown the difficulty of designing these complex agrosystems: agro-ecological design remains a major obstacle for actors in the agro-ecological transition, due to the lack of appropriate tools and approaches. This challenge for agricultural researchers also calls for research in artificial intelligence to design such tools. The objective of this thesis is to articulate concepts and methods from these two disciplinary fields in order to equip this stage of agroecological design with (i) constrained reasoning models to explore the combinatorics of spatio-temporal arrangements of agrosystem elements, and (ii) a participatory design device using models as an intermediate object, making it possible to clarify constraints, combine knowledge and stimulate creativity to co-design agroecological farms. It will be implemented on five situations of market garden orchard design, in collaboration with research and higher education institutes (Institut Agro, INRAE, Ecole du paysage), farmers, associations (GRAB, Domaine du possible), private sector companies (Potagers & compagnie) and local authorities. This diversity of situations will make it possible to increase the genericity of the knowledge produced and will facilitate, with the participatory approach, the transfer of the co-built tools to the actors of the agro-ecological transition.