The innovative spirit
For more than 30 years, Cérience has been involved in research and development: seeds selections, techno-seeds, nutrition and plant health.
Innovating for a competitive and sustainable agriculture
For us, innovation has always been a source of competitiveness and differentiation.
Indeed, we are thinking innovation is one of the leverages allowing to increase the profitability of farms. It allows us to support the agricultural transition and to meet the challenges of tomorrow whether they are economic, societal or environmental.
Each year, we invest almost 7% of our turnover in R&D. Our main areas of research are:
• Seeds selection: alfalfas, leguminous crops, grasses, service plants, etc.
• Technologies applied to the seeds: development of laminating and coating solutions and industrialisation.
• Nutrition and plant health: spray adjuvants, bio-nutrition and biocontrol solutions.
The agronomy at the heart of our innovation dynamic
For more than 30 years, our innovation programmes have had the same philosophy: putting agronomy back at the heart of the technical processes!
This agronomic vision of the agricultural systems has motivated some of our major research programmes:
• The cover crops and intercropping
• The companion plants, in particular for rapeseed and maize
• The alfalfa, source of proteins for livestock
• The forage-ready to use seed mixtures
• The biocontrol, an alternative to the conventional plant protection products
We currently have known and recognised know-how and our research activities have an impressive track record: more than 180 plant variety certificates and 30 MA (Marketing Authorisation) and patents.
Two Cérience research stations
Cérience research relies on 2 research stations with more than 25 employees.
Saint-Sauvant station in Vienne (86) focuses on 3 areas of activity: the selection of various forage plants (alfalfa, leguminous crops and grasses), the development of our techno-seeds (SAS range) and the development of solutions, adjuvants and biocontrol.
In the Loiret (45), Vienne-en-Val station is dedicated to the selection of varieties adapted to cover crops (oats, clover, vetches, etc.).
Collaborative synergies
We are convinced collaboration is an accelerator for innovation. This is why we are sharing some research programmes with some partners.
We work in close collaboration with our customers’ agronomic services, in particular with the Terrena cooperative.
We have been collaborating for a long time with public agencies such as the INRAE or the "Institut de l’élevage" but also with some private entities: seed producers, breeders, start-ups, etc.
The GIE Grass, gathering seeds producers and agricultural cooperatives is a good example of collaborative synergies: since its creation in 1995, this group has given birth to more than 140 forage varieties!
The “Expert Centres”, an experimental network
The Cérience Expert Centres showcase our products in the field conditions.
We currently have the 1st forage experimental network in France. It is complemented by Expert Centres dedicated to adjuvants and biocontrol in vines, deployed on 5 French vineyards. This system of scenarios for our products is also developed abroad.
These showcases are a regular opportunity to meet farmers and farm technicians to:
• Introduce our expertise and our new products.
• Evaluate the behaviour of our products in various pedoclimatic conditions.
• Share about the field experiments.
Decision support tools and data
For Cérience, the digital tools and their data are now an essential source of innovation. Our investment in the development of decision support systems (DSS) has several objectives:
First, to imagine some tools allowing to control a production from paper to digital.
Then, to provide the users (farmers, advisors, etc.) with some tools that can support or simplify their daily decisions (decision support ststems).
Finally, to collect and analyse the produced data in order to better understand the agricultural processes and find optimisation leverages.
A few figures about our R&D:
Go to next pages:
About us - Ambitions and values - Our activities
Key figures and implantations - The innovative spirit
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