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.
Adapting the Terranimo® Web tool to assess the risks of subsoil compaction by farming equipment in Québec
Terranimo® tool adaptation at the terms and conditions of Québec.
Researchers: Marc-Olivier Gasser Aubert Michaud, retraité
A new molecular approach to simultaneously detect disease-causing viruses in raspberries and strawberries
Developing a fast and sensitive molecular detection methodology able to accurately identify raspberry and strawberry viruses.
Researchers: Richard Hogue Luc Belzile
Utilizing high-throughput sequencing to identify plant pathogens
Evaluating and developing a high-throughput sequencing-based diagnostic procedure to identify pathogenic organisms.
Researchers: Richard Hogue Luc Belzile
Strategies to mitigate soil degradation in no-till field crops with the goal of reducing herbicide use and boosting soil quality and yields
Three-year project on an array of mitigation protocols to reduce the application of glyphosate in a field crop system (corn–soybean–grains).
Researchers: Richard Hogue Marc-Olivier Gasser
Using cesium-137 to quantify organic horticultural soil erosion
Project to quantify the long-term (60+ years) severity of erosion of organic horticultural soils.
Researchers: Claude Bernard Marc-Olivier Gasser
Developing a soil microbiome monitoring method to select potato crop management practices that reduce soil-borne pathogens and pesticide applications
Method to monitor and control telluric pathogens affecting potatoes that takes into account the interactions between these pathogens and other soil microbiome organisms.
Researchers: Richard Hogue Luc Belzile
Bison farming in Québec: Determining the phosphorous load factor
Project to determine the real value of the phosphorus load associated with bison production in Québec.
Researcher: Stéphane Godbout
Evolution of spatial indicators of soil health in Québec and Ontario in response to a changing climate
This project aims to improve our understanding of the evolution and spatial variability of soil health indicators as barometers of climate change.
Researchers: Marc-Olivier Gasser Claude Bernard
Promoting undersown clover cover crops in small grain production: A network of farm demonstration plots across Québec
Demonstration project to showcase the ability of undersown clover cover crops to reduce nitrogen fertilizer requirements in crops.
Researcher: Marc-Olivier Gasser
Using isotopic techniques to investigate soil erosion processes
Quantification of the scale of soil displacement and net sediment production in the past 50 years for various soil textures and compare these results with those generated by modeling the watershed with SWAT.
Researcher: Claude Bernard
Maintaining high yields in field crops while reconsidering the option of using glyphosate
The aim of the project is to assess the impact of applying various rates of glyphosate in field crop systems on the soil and crop rhizosphere microbiome.
Researcher: Richard Hogue
Using organic matter and biostimulants to restore soil health and yields in matted row strawberry fields with a history of decline – yields in the second year of production
This project aims to examine whether improving soil health can help check strawberry decline.
Researcher: Christine Landry
Validating microbial indicators of potato field productivity based on metagenomic analysis
The current project is designed to check the predictability of the biological productivity score.
Researcher: Richard Hogue
Economic analysis of agronomic practices that prevent soil degradation
Economic analysis of a three-year project aimed at testing methods of reducing and correcting surface soil compaction.
Researcher: Luc Belzile
Validating tools used to reduce soil phosphorus saturation by monitoring soil tests and phosphorus loads in an intensive livestock region
The aim of this project is to show that efforts made to better distribute phosphorus on the land are effective and that the indicators used to determine phosphorus saturation thresholds are correlated with soil phosphorus balance and dynamics.
Researcher: Marc-Olivier Gasser
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