With nearly 850 staff spread over 20 Units in 8 locations, the Clermont-Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Centre of INRAE (The French National Institute for Agriculture, Food and Environment) is widely anchored in the region. Our teams implement research projects characterized by a broad disciplinary representation, as close as possible to the concerns of society. They are involved in numerous international research networks in the fields of plant genetics, animal husbandry and human nutrition.
One of the research topics of the research Centre is “Agroecology of grassland farming systems, product quality and animal health”. In a context where livestock farming activities are being increasingly questioned due to environmental, economic and social issues, understanding how livestock systems work is a key element in understanding their capacity for adaptation and resilience and characterising the qualities of the products and services that result from them. This is particularly the case for grassland systems. The key challenges of this theme are: i) adapting resources (animal and plant) to the economic, social and environmental context of livestock farming; ii) the development of user-friendly technical innovations; iii) objectifying the links between grassland farming systems and the quality of the products that result from them; iv) the design and multi-criteria assessment of multifunctional, innovative and sustainable grass-based livestock farming systems, as well as territorialized streams.