France 2030 | INSÉREZ LES, a new 7.9 million-euro collective research project centring on farmers

Science at work 24 October 2024
A new research and innovation project, "Insérez Les", aims to overcome socio-technical lockouts by means of innovations to ensure the long-term inclusion of pulses in farming and food systems. This wide-ranging project will run for four years, be coordinated by the Terres Inovia technical institute, and be led by a consortium of 11 partners specializing in pulses: Terres Inovia, the University of Montpellier, the Centre technique de Conservation des Produits Agroalimentaires, the Terres Univia inter-branch organization, INRAE, Institut Agro Dijon, CIRAD, GEVES, UnilaSalle, Graine de choc and the Lacour Brouet agricultural firm. With a total cost of around 7.9 million euros, "Insérez Les" has almost 3 million euros of funding from the Agence Nationale de la Recherche under the France 2030 programme.

© R. Belmin, CIRAD

The "Insérez Les" project relies on a collective dynamic centred on farmers, and is coordinating a range of niche innovations.

In the words of the project partners, "Our research and innovation consortium has a dual objective: to boost the knowledge available and shared between players, and to generate greater added value for pulse producers. This will eventually facilitate agricultural, varietal, technological and societal innovations, by means of coordinated action on the part of the different links in the chain, from farmer to end consumer".

The project rests on five complementary research and innovation operations:

  1.  Improving less capital-intensive processing techniques (hulling, fermentation, agglomerates), along with the sensorial acceptability of products,
  2. Characterizing the ecosystem services rendered by pulses, to ensure their inclusion in multi-criteria assessments of cropping systems,
  3. Understanding and reducing the potential yield gap for pulses, to guarantee their inclusion in systems,
  4. Improving access to genetic progress, to stabilize production,
  5. Studying the factors for socioeconomic success.

CIRAD will be involved in component 1 of the project, via the agrifood platform and laboratories run by its QUALISUD joint research unit.

The progress made by "Insérez Les" will be reported, notably on the consortium members' websites, throughout the length of the project. "Insérez Les" has French state funding, via the Agence Nationale de la Recherche, under the France 2030 programme (reference ANR-23-PLEG-001). It is also funded by the partners themselves, notably by inter-branch funds.

Find out more on the Terres Inovia website (in French)