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.
The Apple Phytosanitary Warning Network: Detection, Monitoring, Forecasts and Recommendations for Quebec Orchards
The Apple Phytosanitary Warning Network.
Researchers: Gérald Chouinard Vincent Philion Daniel Cormier
Controlling codling moth through mating disruption
Codling moth sexual confusion.
Researcher: Daniel Cormier
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
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
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
Integrated fruit production under nets: low drift and low impact sprays used for thinning and other phytosanitary interventions in organic or pesticide-free orchards
Optimizing spraying through exclusion nets.
Researchers: Gérald Chouinard Daniel Cormier Vincent Philion
Implementation, management, and assessment of flower strips in orchards to promote the biodiversity of beneficial arthropods as an alternative to pesticide application
Developing and assessing the planting of flower strips in orchard inter-rows as an alternative to the application of insecticides.
Researchers: Daniel Cormier Gérald Chouinard
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
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
A new molecular approach to simultaneously detect disease-causing viruses in raspberries and strawberries
Developing a fast and sensitive molecular detection methodology able to accurately identify raspberry and strawberry viruses.
Researchers: Richard Hogue Luc Belzile
Developing strategies and methods for weeding carrots grown in rotation with field crops
Development of weeding strategies and methods that will reduce weed pressure on carrot crops, especially row-crop carrots, which appear to be the most problematic.
Researcher: Élise Smedbol
Strategies to mitigate soil degradation in no-till field crops with the goal of reducing herbicide use and boosting soil quality and yields
Three-year project on an array of mitigation protocols to reduce the application of glyphosate in a field crop system (corn–soybean–grains).
Researchers: Richard Hogue Marc-Olivier Gasser
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