(Baie-du-Febvre) At the end of Jacques Côté’s land appears an unusual agricultural landscape. In a vast field of hay, three rows of mature trees line up for almost half a kilometer.
Posted at 5:00 a.m.
Poplars, oaks, maples, walnuts: nearly 400 trees grow on the experimental site that the dairy producer planted 11 years ago with the help of researcher David Rivest.
Under a bright autumn sun, the duo head towards the center of the plot, where there is a series of sensors that continuously record a wealth of microclimate data. Wind force, precipitation, solar radiation, soil humidity and temperature: nothing is left to chance.
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PHOTO HUGO-SÉBASTIEN AUBERT, THE PRESS
David Rivest, professor in the Department of Natural Sciences at UQO (left), as well as Jacques Côté and Sylvie Moser, farmers (right)
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PHOTO HUGO-SÉBASTIEN AUBERT, THE PRESS
A microclimatic data acquisition unit developed by researcher David Rivest. It includes an active photosynthetic radiation sensor, an anemometer and probes for soil humidity and temperature.
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PHOTO HUGO-SÉBASTIEN AUBERT, THE PRESS
Along the edge of the experimental plot, there is a larch windbreak hedge planted in 2007. Agroforestry hedges are much more common in Quebec. David Rivest estimates that they would cover thousands of kilometers on agricultural land in Quebec.
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PHOTO HUGO-SÉBASTIEN AUBERT, THE PRESS
Several species of trees have been planted in order to prevent possible glitches such as a disease that could ravage a species, as was the case recently with the emerald ash borer.
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These data will make it possible to determine the protective effect of trees on crops when they experience extreme weather conditions, such as droughts. Valuable data as farmers seek solutions to become more resilient to climate change.
“We want to bring more stability in yields from year to year,” explains David Rivest, professor in the Department of Natural Sciences at the University of Quebec in Outaouais (UQO).
With climate change, fluctuations are expected. We want to limit these deviations by having beneficial effects when it is stressful for the agricultural plant.
David Rivest, professor in the department of natural sciences at UQO
In recent years, the province has experienced historic droughts. In 2020, Quebec experienced its hottest July in 100 years. As a result, the Quebec crop insurance program (ASREC) has paid huge sums to farmers: 35 million to compensate 2,100 companies that have suffered the effects of droughts and 40.5 million to hay producers for “lack of water”. . And it is the Canadian taxpayers who have borne 60% of the bill.
Encouraging results
Jacques Côté was not thinking about climate change when he embarked on this adventure. He first experienced “love at first sight” when he saw a photo presented at the end of a presentation. “I fell in love,” he recalls.
In the image captured in France, a combine harvester was harvesting wheat between rows of walnut trees. A new technique in Quebec: the “intercropping agroforestry system”.
One thing leading to another, he contacted David Rivest and in May 2012, the two launched themselves.
They will plant trees every 5 meters, for 480 meters, with spacings of only 40 meters between rows.
The results obtained so far are astonishing.
Despite a moderate reduction in light and water available for growing crops close to the tree rows, no reduction in yield was measured in the cultivated alleys.
David Rivest, professor in the department of natural sciences at UQO
“This is true for the different crops that have followed one another over the past few years, which includes grain corn, soybeans and an alfalfa-based forage crop,” he adds.
In the center of the aisles, Professor Rivest’s team also measured a significant decrease in wind speed and an increase in soil and air humidity.
“These microclimatic conditions can be beneficial to the crop. For example, in 2018, marked by an abnormally dry and hot summer, we measured, near the center of the cultivated rows, an increase in soybean yield of nearly 20%. »
Jacques Côté also observed beneficial effects.
The last time there was corn here was my record field!
Jacques Cote
PHOTO HUGO-SÉBASTIEN AUBERT, THE PRESS
Jacques Cote
The agroforestry system also seems to have beneficial effects on water retention in the fields.
“During the summer of 2021, which was relatively dry, we measured that the soil humidity near the center of the cultivated alleys was about 50% higher than that in the control plots without trees,” says Mr. Rivest.
Mindsets to change
Jacques Côté plans to harvest his first trees over the next few years, in order to resell the wood. The harvest of poplars is planned after 15 years and that of “noble hardwood” hardwoods (oaks, maples, black walnuts), after 40 years.
“If my great-grandfather was a fan of agroforestry and it was all over the farm, every year, we would have an income from the sale of logs,” explains the fifth-generation producer. . “I’m doing this for the next generation. »
In Quebec, David Rivest estimates that there are “at most” a dozen intercropping agroforestry systems.
Jacques Côté, who sometimes has the impression of “preaching in the desert”, hopes to convince his colleagues. But first, it will be necessary to change mentalities.
“These are paradigms to change. Agriculture is a fight against the forest: you remove it and you grow something else, he recalls. If you leave the ground bare, a tree will eventually grow there. So if the ground only considers what’s best for it, I think it’s [une bonne idée] to combine with agriculture. »