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.

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Results for 2020
2019-2021 • Market gardening

A comparative study of organic fertilizers with a high, effective nitrogen to total phosphorus ratio (Neff / Ptot) as a basis for developing productive and sustainable market gardening fertilization strategies

In this study, we will test alfalfa meal pellets in a broccoli crop planted on plastic-covered irrigated mounds and we will compare them with two organic fertilizer, in addition to a control treatment in which no nitrogen is added.

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Christine Landry
Caroline Côté
2019-2021 • Field cropsMarket gardening

OGeMOS Project: Developing and deploying an online tool for managing soil organic matter

This project will develop a versatile tool that will allow to simulate the impacts of agricultural practices on soil organic matter.

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Aubert Michaud, retraité
Marc-Olivier Gasser
Simon Ricard
2019-2023 • Market gardeningField crops

Implementing a three-year sustainable forage crop rotation for potato and field crop farmers

This project seeks to create farmer partnerships in which participants work on implementing a three-year forage crop rotation protocol in potato and field crop fields.

Researcher: Richard Hogue

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Richard Hogue
2019-2020 • Fruit production

Using apple maggot mass trapping with attracticidal spheres to cut back on insecticide applications in orchards

This project seeks to reduce the use of chemical insecticides in orchards by controlling apple maggot populations using mass trapping.

Researcher: Daniel Cormier

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Daniel Cormier

A status report on the labile carbon to total organic carbon ratio of Saguenay–Lac-St-Jean soils

A labile carbon input would displace some phosphorus into the soil solution, thus making it available again for assimilation into growing plants.

Researcher: Christine Landry

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Christine Landry
2019-2023 • Field crops

Improving nitrogen management in Québec grain corn

This project will determine the optimal post-emergent nitrogen dose to apply.

Researcher: Christine Landry

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Christine Landry
2019-2023 • Fruit production

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

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Annabelle Firlej
2019-2021 • Livestock production

Analyzing the profitability of fly repulsion techniques in organic dairy production

In this project, initiated by Agrinova, IRDA will analyze the profitability of techniques used to repel pasture flies in organic dairy production.

Researcher: Luc Belzile

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2019-2020 • Market gardening

Developing a weed control knowledge transfer tool for organic market gardeners

This project seeks to develop a knowledge transfer tool to assist organic market gardeners with weed control.

Researcher: Maryse Leblanc

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Maryse Leblanc
2019-2023 • Fruit production

Modifying an irrigated day-neutral-strawberry growing protocol to improve soil functionality by activating beneficial microorganisms through the addition of labile carbon at planting time

This project will modify current protocols with the addition of labile carbon to preserve or rapidly restore the activity of beneficial microorganisms.

Researcher: Christine Landry

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Christine Landry
2019-2022 • Field crops

Using controlled drainage to optimize water and nutrient uptake by crops

This project relies on the continuous measurement of field water table heights; water exports; as well as sediment, nitrogen, and phosphorus runoff into drains at four field-crop production sites.

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Aubert Michaud, retraité
2019-2021 • Livestock production

Improving animal welfare in hog production by adopting a smart environment-control strategy

This project proposes to measure relative humidity and air speed in hog houses and integrate these parameters into the control of ventilation systems.

Researchers: Stéphane Godbout Luc Belzile

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Stéphane Godbout

Île d’Orléans farmers rally to tackle water shortage

This project aims to explore and experiment new approaches and ways to preserve, develop, and enhance the MRC’s bio-food sector, and reduce or eliminate the water deficit on the island.

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Carl Boivin
Stéphane Godbout
2019-2022 • Market gardening

Projet for a Web app to facilitate the viewing and interpretation of potato soil health analyses

This project aims to develop an accessible and user-friendly web application that let stakeholders search the IRDA potato soil database, one of the largest in Canada, to visualize the impact of growing practices and protocols on the biological, physicochemical, and agronomic characteristics of soils cultivated with different cropping systems.

Researcher: Richard Hogue

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Richard Hogue
2019-2020 • Fruit production

Investigating key physicochemical and environmental factors that could account for variable lowbush blueberry yields

As part of this project, the soil water status at a chosen blueberry farm will be monitored at 40 spots over the course of the production year. We will seek to identify the relationship between water extraction, physicochemical and environmental factors, and yield levels that could help explain yield variability.

Researcher: Carl Boivin

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Carl Boivin

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

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