Maintaining high yields in field crops while reconsidering the option of using glyphosate

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Field crops (grain corn and soybean) in Québec cover over 800 000 hectares and represent one of the largest source of agricultural revenues but are also responsible for most of the use of glyphosate-containing herbicides (GCH). Maintaining high field crops yields while drastically reducing the usage of these herbicides is of strategic importance for keeping the agricultural sector prosperous in a sustainable environment. In close collaboration with the Québec Ministry of Agriculture, fisheries and food (MAPAQ), this interdisciplinary project aims at establishing a comprehensive portrait of the impacts of massive usage of GCH in different field crops systems in Québec on key agricultural soil functions such as nutrient retention and recycling, compaction prevention, water retention and carbon sequestration, as well as water quality represented by the percolation of glyphosate and its main degradation product (aminomethylphosphonic acid) in agricultural streams. A promising direct seeding mulch-based cropping system, promoted by our supporting company SCV Agrologie and requiring little GCH applications will be tested in two climatic zones of Québec in fields of participating farmers and in experimental plots at the Grain Research Center (CEROM). We will develop a dynamic socio-economic-environmental model to establish the mid-term profitability and long-term sustainability and ecosystem services of cropping systems using various rates of GCH. Using a soft system methodology developed in collaboration with the MAPAQ territorial planners and through frequent exchanges between members of the research team and field-crops farmers community, we will circumscribe the conditions of large scale adoption of alternative cropping systems. Our project will enroll 4 Ph.D., 2 professional M.Sc. and 6 undergraduate students and thus will contribute to train young scientists to the complex and necessary challenge of transition to sustainability of field crop production in Québec and elsewhere in the world. Besides, this project will contribute to keeping the Canadian field crop sector competitive on the international market, allowing it to distinguish itself by the quality and sustainability of its production