Research Projects
Each year, IRDA's R&D Team conducts more than one hundred research projects in sustainable agriculture. What's more, IRDA is working with Quebec's key agricultural stakeholders to find concrete solutions.
The Apple Phytosanitary Warning Network: Detection, Monitoring, Forecasts and Recommendations for Quebec Orchards
The Apple Phytosanitary Warning Network.
Researchers: Gérald Chouinard Vincent Philion Daniel Cormier
Controlling codling moth through mating disruption
Codling moth sexual confusion.
Researcher: Daniel Cormier
The complementarity of commercially available predators in controlling spotted wing drosophila in organic day-neutral strawberry crops
Evaluation of the effectiveness of various predator combinations in controlling spotted wing drosophilia.
Researcher: Annabelle Firlej
Using seasonal tillage in combination with cover crops as a biological method to control cutworms in organic cruciferous crops
Evaluation of new practices to control cutworms in organic vegetable production.
Researchers: Annabelle Firlej Maxime Lefebvre
Assessing a weeding robot for use in organic market gardening
New, robotic weed control strategy for widespread use in field vegetables grown organically in Québec.
Researcher: Élise Smedbol
Tailoring apple scab control strategies to the properties of the fungicides utilized
Developing a new scab control strategy based on selecting the lowest-risk products that best fit the circumstances at hand, and tailoring the doses accordingly.
Researcher: Vincent Philion
Integrated fruit production under nets: low drift and low impact sprays used for thinning and other phytosanitary interventions in organic or pesticide-free orchards
Optimizing spraying through exclusion nets.
Researchers: Gérald Chouinard Daniel Cormier Vincent Philion
Implementation, management, and assessment of flower strips in orchards to promote the biodiversity of beneficial arthropods as an alternative to pesticide application
Developing and assessing the planting of flower strips in orchard inter-rows as an alternative to the application of insecticides.
Researchers: Daniel Cormier Gérald Chouinard
Measuring the impact of winter vs. spring cereals on profitability, soil health, and pesticide use
Ten test sites will operate over a two-year period on farms spread over ten Québec regions to compare the performance of winter and spring cereals.
Researchers: Marc-Olivier Gasser Caroline Côté Luc Belzile
Out-of-soil cultivation of organic long cane raspberries
Development of a growing out-of-soil organic raspberries in high tunnels protocol in a profitable and competitive manner with a view to selling products locally or to large retail chains.
Researcher: Annabelle Firlej
Assessing the economic impact of fungicide resistance in horticultural corps
Project initiated to review the knowledge on the fungicide resistance of various pathogens to provide a preliminary assessment of the economic impacts of fungicide resistance.
Researcher: Luc Belzile
Developing mass trapping strategies to control the striped cucumber beetle in organic cucurbit farming
This project aims to develop mass trapping strategies to keep damage caused by the striped cucumber beetle populations below the economic threshold, while minimizing the capture of pollinators and natural enemies.
Researchers: Annabelle Firlej Maxime Lefebvre
Assessing the influence of biotic and abiotic factors on the efficacy of spring flooding as a means of controlling the blackheaded fireworm
This project assesse the influence of biotic and abiotic factors on the efficacy of spring flooding to developp a strategy of control for the blackheaded fireworm
Researcher: Daniel Cormier
The solutions developed by IRDA aim to...
Ensure the sustainability
and quality of soil, water, and air
Protect the health and well-being
of local communities by improving the quality of crop and livestock production, with an emphasis on animal welfare
Safeguard the economic viability
of crop and livestock production