S12 - Session P3 - Efficient fruit agroforestry systems on water management

Authors: Baptiste Labeyrie *

Agriculture is faced with multiple challenges: increasingly impactful global warming, tensions on water resources, reduction in phytosanitary products, erosion of biodiversity, in a context where societal expectations around food are complex , with the imperative to maintain the viability of farms. Responding to all of these changes encourages a move towards more innovative, efficient and resilient cropping systems. The Arbriss'eau project aims to test and evaluate two farming systems in fruit agroforestry, in organic farming, combining a set of agronomic levers with the objective of reducing the water needs of crops and improving resilience against the effects of global warming (drought, hot weather) and to promote biological regulations, while maintaining economic viability. The two agroforestry systems studied combine fruit trees, rotational crops (field crops, aromatic plants, garlic) and agroecological layouts. The two systems have a different degree of rupture with their own objectives, and mobilize specific crops and specific agronomic levers. Improving the management of water resources in these systems consists of increasing the organic matter of the soils (plant cover, organic amendments, shredded wood), diversifying crops (almond, olive, pomegranate, pistachio), and testing and evaluating irrigation strategies and innovative equipment for tree crops.