Partnerships to face the new challenges in agriculture
Today's challenges in the agro-food industry require renewed partnership policies for targeted research institutes. At INRA, and in particular in the Animal Genetics division, there is a long tradition of partnership with public authorities and breeding organisations (technical institutes, selection organisations, etc.), notably for animal population management (genetic evaluation of breeding animals, support and expertise for the definition of selection objectives or the optimisation of genetic improvement schemes, marker-assisted selection, characterisation and management of genetic diversity) and more recently, development of genomics methods and tools (Agenae program).
Within this context of rapidly changing stakes in agriculture and disengagement by government from the French genetic scheme, a strong partnership with professional organisations has been maintained. The Framework Law on Agriculture (LOA) has confirmed INRA's mission to guarantee a competitive system and society's long-term interests, notably in terms of biodiversity conservation.
However, our partnerships have extended with new contacts (in the industry, environmental specialists, sociologists, ...) to take account of the new challenges facing agriculture today.
On the scientific level, partnerships depend mainly on the quality of research, but they are also favoured by making resources or tools available (resource centers, platforms, experimental farms) and by a real desire to open up to and share synergies with other organisations on joint priority projects in accordance to various rules (joint research laboratories, research groups bringing together French researchers with a varied background but working in the same field, excellence networks, ANR projects, etc.).
Writing:
PHuan - Translation W. Brand-Williams and H. Hayes
Creation date: 16 February 2010
Update: 02 September 2011
