Agricultural machinery and digital technologies for agroecology: moving beyond pesticides in crop protection
Abstract
Intensive agriculture in temperate regions has reached a historical turning point, as the dominant chemical and mechanised model is approaching its environmental and health limits. Digital technologies and agricultural machinery can support a systemic transition towards agroecology by making crop health drivers—such as abiotic stresses, pest pressures and soil fertility dynamics—visible and manageable. This enables adaptive and differentiated management, in which pesticides are used only as a last resort when biological regulation processes are insufficient. Modular machinery and lightweight robotics facilitate plant monitoring within intentionally heterogeneous cropping systems, enhancing complementarities, biological regulation and risk distribution, with potential gains in productivity over the growing season. By supporting crop diversity and active prophylaxis, technology can strengthen key pillars of agroecology. However, this transition relies on co-design with farmers, value-chain reorganisation and appropriate governance of agricultural data. The objective is not to replace farmers, but to empower them to manage biological complexity and develop resilient and sustainable farming systems, while avoiding a drift towards further standardisation and industrialisation.
Related
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- Residential exposure to agricultural pesticides and acute and recurring health outcomes: protocol for a retrospective dynamic cohort study using primary care data in the Netherlands.
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- Agricultural Equipment, Crop Protection, and Pesticide Reduction: Toward a Systemic Transformation of Farming Practices
BibTeX
@article{reboud2026agricultural,
title = {{Agricultural machinery and digital technologies for agroecology: moving beyond pesticides in crop protection}},
author = {Xavier Reboud},
journal = {Innovations Agronomiques},
year = {2026},
month = sep,
doi = {10.17180/ciag-2026-vol114-art02},
url = {https://hal.inrae.fr/hal-05744822v1},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Agricultural machinery and digital technologies for agroecology: moving beyond pesticides in crop protection
AU - Xavier Reboud
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/09/10
JO - Innovations Agronomiques
DO - 10.17180/ciag-2026-vol114-art02
UR - https://hal.inrae.fr/hal-05744822v1
AB - Intensive agriculture in temperate regions has reached a historical turning point, as the dominant chemical and mechanised model is approaching its environmental and health limits. Digital technologies and agricultural machinery can support a systemic transition towards agroecology by making crop health drivers—such as abiotic stresses, pest pressures and soil fertility dynamics—visible and manageable. This enables adaptive and differentiated management, in which pesticides are used only as a last resort when biological regulation processes are insufficient. Modular machinery and lightweight robotics facilitate plant monitoring within intentionally heterogeneous cropping systems, enhancing complementarities, biological regulation and risk distribution, with potential gains in productivity over the growing season. By supporting crop diversity and active prophylaxis, technology can strengthen key pillars of agroecology. However, this transition relies on co-design with farmers, value-chain reorganisation and appropriate governance of agricultural data. The objective is not to replace farmers, but to empower them to manage biological complexity and develop resilient and sustainable farming systems, while avoiding a drift towards further standardisation and industrialisation.
SN - 1958-5853
SN - 1958-5853
ER -