INRA - Nouvelle-Aquitaine-Poitiers

All Press releases

Bee foraging rapeseed flower. © INRA, RENARD Michel

Press release

27 Nov 2019

Neonicotinoids: despite EU moratorium, bees still at risk

ratorium has restricted the application of three neonicotinoids to crops that attract bees because of the harmful effects they are deemed to have on these insects. Yet researchers from the CNRS, INRA, and the Institut de l’Abeille (ITSAP) have just demonstrated that residues of these insecticides—and especially of imidacloprid—can still be detected in rape nectar from 48% of the plots of studied fields, their concentrations varying greatly over the years. An assessment of the risk posed to bees, based on health agency models and parameters, has revealed that for two out of five years, at least 12% of the fields were sufficiently contaminated to kill 50% of the bees and bumblebees foraging on them.

Bee on rapeseed flower. © INRA, CARRE Serge

Press release

09 Oct 2019

Bee pollination boosts the profitability of oilseed rape

Researchers from INRA and CNRS have shown for the first time that bee pollination surpasses the use of pesticides in yield and especially in profitability of oilseed rape. The team of researchers analysed data collected over four years in farmers’ fields in an agricultural plain in Deux-Sèvres (Nouvelle Aquitaine, western France).

Aerial view of fields in Picardy in the area of Péronne in the Somme. © INRA, TISSIER Jean-Pierre

Press release

02 Aug 2019

More complex crop mosaics produce greater biodiversity in agricultural landscapes

Researchers from INRA and CNRS¹, in collaboration with German, Spanish, English and Canadian teams, have examined the effect of field size and crop diversity on biodiversity in agricultural landscapes. Published in PNAS, their work shows that increasing the complexity of the crop mosaic produces a considerable (and largely under-exploited) benefit in conserving and restoring the biodiversity of farm landscapes, while maintaining areas of land under agricultural production.

Ecobee-Abeilles, Poitou-Charente. Ecobee: a device for observing bees in the field. Ecobee is an original tool for conducting experiments in fields of cereals on the interactions between characteristics of colonies, landscapes and environmental constraints. © INRA, MAITRE Christophe

Press release

26 Jun 2019

Organic farming enhances honeybee colony performance

A team of researchers from the CNRS, INRA, and the University of La Rochelle is now the first to have demonstrated that organic farming benefits honeybee colonies, especially when food is scarce in late spring. The scientists analysed six years of data collected through a unique system for monitoring domesticated bees that is unparalleled in Europe.

Inauguration de Ferticap.
De gauche à droite : Abraham Escobar Gutiérrez (Président centre Inra Nouvelle-Aquitaine-Poitiers), Alain Rousset (Président de la Région Nouvelle-Aquitaine), Philippe Mauguin (PDG de l’Inra), Philippe De Guenin (Directeur de la Draaf Nouvelle-Aquitaine), François Gastal (Directeur de l’unité expérimentale Ferlus au centre Inra NAP), Yves Jean (Président de l’Université de Poitiers), Alice Fatet (Animatrice reproduction caprine innovante Ferlus au centre Inra NAP).

Press release

02 May 2019

INRA creates Ferticap and Siclex: new experimental facilities for sustainable goat systems and grassland management

On Tuesday 30 April 2019 in Lusignan, Philippe Mauguin, President of the French National Institute for Agricultural Research and Alain Rousset, President of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine Region, opened two new experimental facilities, Ferticap and Siclex, alongside Abraham Escobar Gutiérrez, President of INRA’s Nouvelle-Aquitaine-Poitiers Research Centre.

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