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The general purpose of the primary and secondary data available in this article is to support an integrated assessment of scenarios of crop-livestock integration at the territorial level i.e. of exchanges between arable and livestock farms. The data is a result of a research collaboration between the scientist from INRAE, agricultural advisers from Chamber of Agriculture of Pays de la Loire (CRAPL) and a collective of five arable and two livestock farmers located in the district of Pays de Pouzauges (Vendee department, western France). All participants formed part of the DiverIMPACTS project ( https://www.diverimpacts.net/ ) that aims to achieve the full potential of diversification of cropping systems for improved productivity, delivery of ecosystem services and resource-efficient and sustainable value chains in Europe. The first dataset corresponds to the inputs of MAELIA ( http://maelia-platform.inra.fr/ ), a spatial agent-based simulation platform that was used to support an iterative design and assessment of scenarios to redesign cropping systems. The second dataset corresponds to the outputs of MAELIA simulations and the associated indicators at the farm, group and territory level. The data comprise multiple shape and csv files characterizing the edaphic-climatic heterogeneity of the territory and cropping systems, farmers’ crop management rules (IF-THEN rules) and general information about the farms (e.g. crops, agricultural equipment, average crop yields). Data is reported for the baseline situation and three exchange scenarios containing different innovative cropping systems co-designed by scientists, agricultural advisers and the farmers. The data presented here can be found in the Portail Data INRA repository ( https://doi.org/10.15454/3ZTCF5 ) and were used in the research article “Fostering local crop-livestock integration via legume exchanges using an innovative integrated assessment and modelling approach: MAELIA” [1] .

International audience; Minor crops include mostly vegetables, fruits, nursery stock and ornamentals. These crops account for an EU production value of over (sic) 60 billion per year, representing more than 20% of the value of EU's total agricultural production. The sustainable production of such crops, from an economic point of view, is vital for both human health and European economies. For minor crops, this sustainability can only be realized by the continued availability of crop protection solutions for pest control. The number of minor crops in Europe without viable solutions for plant protection has increased in recent years. This is mainly due to the lack of pesticides in certain crops, as a number of previously authorized pesticides has not been re-authorized due to a stricter regulation. Also the introduction of tropical or sub-tropical crops and their pests into Europe has contributed to the problem of minor crops without any crop protection solutions as pesticides used elsewhere to protect these crops are not allowed in Europe. The limited range of pesticides available to farmers has increased the risk of resistance development since, in absence of a sufficient number of pesticides with various modes of action, farmers apply repetitively only a narrow spectrum of molecules. The direct economic impact due to the absence of viable plant protection solutions for minor crops has been estimated over a billion Euros per year, impacting 9 million hectares throughout Europe. In light of this, here we discuss the current state of the art of minor crops in Europe and elucidate ongoing efforts to address such problems through Integrated Pest Management (IPM). The information reported is expected to provide relevance of minor crops in Europe and encourage the development and implementation of effective IPM solutions.

International audience; The introduction of genetically-modified (GM) crops is often accompanied by other changes in cultural practices. The objective of the present study was to evaluate these changes with the simulation model FLORSYS which quantifies the effects of cropping systems and pedoclimate on weed dynamics as well as indicators of weed-related biodiversity (species richness and equitability, trophic resources for birds, insects and pollinators) and crop production loss (yield loss, harvest contamination, harvesting problems, field infestation). The study focused on two GM maize variety types, i.e. expressing Bacillus thuringiensis toxins against insects (Bt) and tolerating the non-selective herbicide glyphosate (HT). Two contrasting maize-growing sites were studied: Aquitaine, a region in South-Western France, and Catalonia in North-Eastern Spain. Typical regional cropping systems containing maize were identified for each site from expert knowledge and the Biovigilance database recording French agricultural practices. GM scenarios were based on expert knowledge, literature and current Spanish practices. A total of 11 most probable scenarios (1 conventional, 3 Bt and 8 HT) were simulated over 28 years for each region, and repeated with 10 different regional random weather series. An additional series of 5-7 scenarios per region was run to decorrelate factors, and make it easier to identify the cultural practices responsible for changes in weed flora, biodiversity and production. The simulations showed that the changes accompanying the introduction of GM maize varieties affected weed flora as well as weed-related biodiversity and crop production loss, but that the consequences depended on local conditions. Most of these consequences were caused by simplifications in the cropping systems made possible by the GM varieties, rather than by the glyphosate associated to GM varieties. Simplified tillage or no-till increased weed harmfulness, particularly in Aquitaine where the weed flora was poorer and dominated by larger and more persistent species. Conversely, no-till cancelled part or all of the nefarious effects on biodiversity of simplified rotations (maize/wheat and maize monoculture), particularly by improving trophic resources offered by weeds to birds, insects and pollinators. Overall, biodiversity was less affected by simplified rotations in Catalonia where the initial weed flora was richer and more equitable. Delayed maize sowing reduced weed harmfulness and biodiversity, except food offer for insects and pollinators whose pertinent feeding period covered spring and summer (vs. winter for birds). Based on the two most affected weed-based biodiversity indicators, ex post monitoring after GM introduction should focus on birds in Aquitaine and on pollinators in Catalonia. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

International audience; In the European Union, it has been decided that farmers and consumers should be free to choose between conventional, organic, and genetically modified (GM) crops/products. This concept of coexistence implies the necessity of developing coexistence strategies which curb the risk of mixing GM and non-GM material along agricultural supply chains. Among many things, this requires understanding and predicting the process of cross-pollination between the different varieties cultivated on a given landscape. In order to provide a prediction accurate enough to cope with legal thresholds, it is necessary to be able to rank varieties according to their pollen production. However, this parameter is rarely known, partly because it is difficult and expensive to measure. We investigated how easy-to-measure tassel morphological characteristics can be used to predict the quantity of pollen produced by hybrid maize varieties. Thirteen varieties were grown in France on experimental plots during three years with two varieties added the last year. For each variety, we measured the pollen production and variables that describe the tassel architecture. We found that the number of ramifications, the length of the tassel, the length of the emitting section, the number of spikelets and the TAI (the Tassel Area Index which aims at estimating the pollen emitting area) were correlated with pollen production. Using linear models, we identified the number of spikelets as the best architectural variable related to pollen production. In order to evaluate the ability of tassel characteristics to predict pollen production, we analysed how the relationships established in the case of any two years made it possible to predict the pollen production of the third year. The model that combined the total length of the tassel and the total number of spikelets was found to be the best predictive model of the relative pollen production between varieties.

This article aims at reviewing the theoretical and experimental data published in 562 publications referring to genetically modified (GM) maize dispersal. Our choice was limited to this since in the European Union (EU), GM maize is the only GM crop currently grown commercially. The pollen dispersal of transgenic maize is due to two factors: (i) pollen-mediated gene flow; (ii) seed admixture during harvest and post-harvest processes. The pollen dispersal decreases rapidly with the distance from GM plots. Climatic and topographic factors and factors of relative density between GM and non-GM maize plots impact on the pollen dispersal. The combination of both isolation distance and flowering date between source plots and sink plots limits the adventitious presence of transgenes in non-GM plots. All publications we reviewed demonstrate that the EU 0.9% threshold is technically manageable if the measures of isolation distances as well as harvesting and post harvesting processes and fully synchronous flowering are implemented.

Summary Within the ECOGEN project, long-term field experiments with genetically modified maize, Zea mays L. were conducted to study agro-ecological effects on the soil fauna and agro-economic implications of the technology. Here, we describe the study-sites, experimental layout and results of agro-economic relevance. Experiments were conducted during 2002–2005 in Denmark (Foulum), northern France (Varois) and the Midi-Pyrenees region of southern France (Narbons). MON810 Bacillus thuringiensis ( Bt )-varieties expressing the Cry1Ab protein, and a T25 glufosinate-ammonium (Basta) tolerant variety expressing the pat-gene encoding phosphinotrinacetyl-transferase were compared with near-isogenic non- Bt varieties, and conventional maize varieties. At Foulum, the maize was harvested for silage. There were no significant differences in yield between Bt -maize and a near-isogenic non- Bt variety, while a small difference in N-concentration of dry matter was detected in 1 year in a range of a measured quality parameters. Similar yield and quality were found in ploughed and reduced tillage treatments in all varieties. At Varois, the maize was harvested at ripeness and no significant differences in grain yield between Bt -maize and near-isogenic non- Bt varieties were found. These results were expected, as only Narbons harbours significant corn-borer populations. At Narbons, the number of Sesamia and Ostrinia corn-borer larvae were significantly lower in the Bt -maize than in a near-isogenic non- Bt variety and for Sesamia even less than in conventional varieties sprayed with pesticides to control corn-borer infestation. Here, Bt -maize produced a higher grain yield and grain size than a near-isogenic non- Bt variety or allowed a significant reduction in pesticide use. Concentrations of Cry1Ab in the Bt -varieties were sufficient to effectively control corn-borer larvae. In soil, Cry1Ab was close to the limit of detection and the protein did not accumulate in the soil year on year.