PUBLIC-POLICY AND PARTNERSHIP IN RESEARCH ON BIOLOGICAL-CONTROL IN FRANCE

Most public institutions and companies of plant protection industry ha ve a favourable opinion of biological control; they feel concerned by the issue, but weakly engaged in its solution. Biological plant protec tion is however poorly developed in agriculture, the success of biolog ical control being insufficiently known due to severe competition with chemical pesticides that are reliable, efficient, specific and safer for the environment. In this context, and to improve the implementatio n of biological control, the following actions are proposed: (1) more interdisciplinarity in research between agronomists, economists and bi ologists who have to take better advantage of the various concepts of evolutionary biology and to carry out more field experiments on a larg e scale; (2) wider and more integrated objectives. the successful cont rol of a pest using biological means is not a sufficient aim. We absol utely need to consider all aspects of IPM, in particular resistance to pesticides, cultural means, plant breeding and all alternative biotec hnical means; (3) larger partnership: during too many years, only rese archers of public institutions were involved in biological control. To day, many partners, including public institutions (Plant Protection Se rvice, Technical Institutes) and private companies (large and small) a re engaged in alternative plant protection. To facilitate cooperation between them, a specific committee has been set up in France in order to coordinate experimentations for registration and quality control of biopesticides. With such improved relationships between all partners, specific arguments and lobbying pressure should be stronger on the di stribution and retailers of agricultural goods with a view to promotin g plant products obtained via biological or integrated control methods and to seeking public understanding and support.