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.

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Results for Soil health 2021
2019-2023 • Fruit production

Modifying an irrigated day-neutral-strawberry growing protocol to improve soil functionality by activating beneficial microorganisms through the addition of labile carbon at planting time

This project will modify current protocols with the addition of labile carbon to preserve or rapidly restore the activity of beneficial microorganisms.

Researcher: Christine Landry

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Christine Landry
2019-2022 • Field crops

Using controlled drainage to optimize water and nutrient uptake by crops

This project relies on the continuous measurement of field water table heights; water exports; as well as sediment, nitrogen, and phosphorus runoff into drains at four field-crop production sites.

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Aubert Michaud, retraité
2019-2022 • Market gardening

Projet for a Web app to facilitate the viewing and interpretation of potato soil health analyses

This project aims to develop an accessible and user-friendly web application that let stakeholders search the IRDA potato soil database, one of the largest in Canada, to visualize the impact of growing practices and protocols on the biological, physicochemical, and agronomic characteristics of soils cultivated with different cropping systems.

Researcher: Richard Hogue

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Richard Hogue
2019-2023 • Fruit production

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

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Richard Hogue
2019-2023 • Market gardening

Utilizing high-throughput sequencing to identify plant pathogens

Evaluating and developing a high-throughput sequencing-based diagnostic procedure to identify pathogenic organisms.

Researchers: Richard Hogue Luc Belzile

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Richard Hogue
2019-2023

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).

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Richard Hogue
Marc-Olivier Gasser
2019-2023 • Market gardening

Using cesium-137 to quantify organic horticultural soil erosion

Project to quantify the long-term (60+ years) severity of erosion of organic horticultural soils.

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Claude Bernard
Marc-Olivier Gasser
2019-2022 • Market gardening

Developing a soil microbiome monitoring method to select potato crop management practices that reduce soil-borne pathogens and pesticide applications

Method to monitor and control telluric pathogens affecting potatoes that takes into account the interactions between these pathogens and other soil microbiome organisms.

Researchers: Richard Hogue Luc Belzile

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Richard Hogue
2019-2021 • Livestock production

Bison farming in Québec: Determining the phosphorous load factor

Project to determine the real value of the phosphorus load associated with bison production in Québec.

Researcher: Stéphane Godbout

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Stéphane Godbout
2018-2021 • Field crops

Evolution of spatial indicators of soil health in Québec and Ontario in response to a changing climate

This project aims to improve our understanding of the evolution and spatial variability of soil health indicators as barometers of climate change.

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Marc-Olivier Gasser
Claude Bernard
2017-2021

Using isotopic techniques to investigate soil erosion processes

Quantification of the scale of soil displacement and net sediment production in the past 50 years for various soil textures and compare these results with those generated by modeling the watershed with SWAT.

Researcher: Claude Bernard

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Claude Bernard
2017-2021 • Field crops

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

The aim of the project is to assess the impact of applying various rates of glyphosate in field crop systems on the soil and crop rhizosphere microbiome.

Researcher: Richard Hogue

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Richard Hogue

A study on the health of agricultural soils in Quebec

The project consists of evaluating soil degradation based on representative samples taken in Québec’s main soil regions and parent materials.

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Marc-Olivier Gasser
Claude Bernard
Catherine Bossé

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

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