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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2020-2022 • Fruit production

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

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Annabelle Firlej
2020-2023 • Market gardening

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

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Annabelle Firlej
Maxime Lefebvre
2020-2023 • Market gardening

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

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Élise Smedbol
2020-2023 • Fruit production

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

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Vincent Philion
2019-2022 • Field crops

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

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Marc-Olivier Gasser
Caroline Côté
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
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

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

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2019-2020 • Fruit production

Using carbohydrate-balance bioclimatic modelling to develop carbaryl-free apple fruit thinning strategies

The model’s predictions will be used to calibrate the dose of a thinning agent (ANA) to be applied in two plots, one treated with carbaryl and the other without, over a two-year period.

Researcher: Vincent Philion

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Vincent Philion

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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