Beet cultivation: immersion with a farmer

” Every morning, we wonder what is the priority of the moment », says Frédéric Choiselat, a farmer specializing in cereals in L’Dawn. In 1993, he took over the business from his parents and his uncle, supported by his partner. Some 190 hectares. This 50-year-old grows eight to eleven different species there, alternating from year to year. That seasonFrédéric will dedicate 40 hectares to sugar beets. A crop that he sows every year, but only every three or four years on the same plot, to limit the risk of disease and ensure better yields.

This seedling is a crucial step “, he underlines. At the beginning of his career, it took place between April 10 and 25. But in ” noting that spring is coming earlier and earlier, that the risk of gel decreases a little and soil temperatures are higher beet growers now sow around March 25. They are guided in their choice by the Technical Beet Institute (ITB), via regionalized newsletters. Although in the end, everyone has their own feelings “. The specificities of each terroir forging the experience over time.

buried seeds

When the moment seems propitious, Frédéric looks at the weather report. Rain should not follow sowing. Because when it prepares the soil to receive the seeds, it creates Earth fine thanks to a vibrocultivator. One ” tool with fairly close teeth which has a vibration effect » with, behind, « rolls that flatten the earth “. This fine earth is essential so that the small seed that is put in the ground germinates very quickly, captures the humidity of the ground and comes out of the ground as quickly as possible “. On the other hand, it is more vulnerable to battance. The drops of water, falling, separate the elements of the soil and lead to the formation of a crust, which prevents seeds from breathing. ” That’s why we watch the weather a bit frantically laughs the grain farmer.

After the passage of the vibrocultivator, Frédéric consults his neighbors. They share the tractors and the seeder, to pool the costs, which requires good organization. Especially since the sowing must be carried out without delay. ” Often it is a period when there is an easterly wind, the first centimeters [de sol] will dry very quickly “, he explains.

Mutual aid is in order. ” We replace each other to sow continuously with my colleague, from 7 a.m. until 8-9 p.m. We don’t shoot at night because the humidity rises in the ground and then it sticks! But this frenetic pace should only be sustained for a short duration. His colleagues having surfaces similar to his, each field is sown in three days. Three days during which 50% of our work is at stake », because the rest of the crop depends on the quality of the seedling.

During this step, a monitor Automatically counts the seeds to make sure everything is running smoothly. The farmer regularly checks the depth of sowing and the absence of stuck pebbles in the drill. ” We work in a natural environment, you have to be very focused. Two to three weeks later, it’s done. The germ comes out of the ground. This is lifting. In the meantime, no intervention has taken place in the future sugar beet field.

The properties of these beets depend on the variety chosen by the grain farmer. ” Since the 1990s, yields have increased thanks to earlier emergence », notes Frédéric. The resistance against certain diseases and pests is also better. ” Before, we had Sigatoka problems [une pathologie due à des champignons et entraînant un moindre développement de la plante, ndlr] but, thanks to research, we have more resistant varieties “, he remembers.

There are about fifty varieties recommended by the ITB, which provides a list each year accompanied by all the criteria retained. This is obtained by carrying out tests. Every year, this institute sows all marketed or marketable sugar beets. From mid-October to mid-November, he harvests them and combines the data obtained to advise beet growers: root size, regularity compared to previous harvests, rate of sugar, resistance to diseases and pests, adaptation to the soil. ” NOTWe are paid on sugar per hectare, so we choose beets that are more or less rich in sugar depending on our region. »

The seeds sold to farmers are usually coated. This coating comprises a product fungicidesometimes a insecticide, as well as a blue or red dye to make it easier to find the seed in the ground — if needed. This season, unlike last season, sellers can incorporate neonicotinoids in this filming. An insecticide fighting in particular against aphidsvectors of the jaundice, which had done considerable damage last year. ” We have high hopes for resistance to aphids in three or four years, because currently we have an exemption for the use of neonicotinoids, but we know that it is temporary », worries Frédéric.

A sign for tomorrow

On this issue, Frédéric is skeptical. Agricultural time is long. Society demands short times. ” He fas long as they let us search [des solutions] with today’s tools, you need a certain consistency “, he asserts. These tools are, in particular, the New Breeding Techniques (NBT). New methods of varietal creation which “ would make it possible to progress more quickly in the development of certain resistances “.

NBTs bring together different approaches to develop new agronomic varieties, since no farmer today uses wild varieties, including:

• I’genome editing : a set of techniques for inserting or deleting a uncomfortable very precisely (including CRISPR-Cas9);
• epigenetic mechanisms: these are changes reversible which do not alter theDNA but influence what this DNA produces, either RNA or some proteins ;
• the graft : from grafts genetically modified can be associated with non-genetically modified rootstocks, or vice versa;
• cisgenesis and certain forms of transgenesis: if the transferred gene comes from the same species or from a species close to the target plant, we speak of cisgenesis, but if this gene is extracted from a species distant from the target plant, we speaks of transgenesis.

Some farmers and scientists see in NBTs the possibility of creating more quickly and more efficiently new varieties of agronomic interest — varieties of wheat, for example. Especially since the NBTs grant a precision that currently authorized techniques, including random mutagenesis, do not achieve.

Like any process, NBTs have a margin of error. Fears arise from this. The most common relate to off-target modifications, ie unintended modifications, and the transfer of genes to wild species. The promoters of these techniques retort that they are common risks to any varietal creation.

personal touch

But Frédéric also has other concerns in mind. ” If we take seeds coated with neonicotinoids, we are prohibited from planting flowers for two to three years, but what we are afraid of is that the pollinators no longer have to eat. He will no longer be able to sow his intercrop cover crops in the same way. ” It will make a hole. In two years, there will be no more flowers in the fields to feed the bees in summer. In my reflection, I said to myself that I was going to sow strips for the bees. »

The grain grower, now trained in beekeeping, will sow one hectare of flowering plants. ” This is a surface that I will take out of production to make pollination strips. Because we’re talking about pollinators. It’s not just the bees! This year, I will try to participate. »

Article produced in collaboration with the AIBS teams.