Innovation is cultivated with Mobilab
In the coming months, farmers in Occitanie may well see a strange rolling object appear in their fields. The mobilab developed by Le mas numérique of the Institut Agro and Occitanumis a mobile fab lab that offers agriculture and viticulture professionals the opportunity to familiarize themselves with digital tools and other connected objects, and even to manufacture their own innovative devices. The Mobilab Tour 2024 will take place in a few weeks with Simon Moinard, project manager.
"The low-tech approach , also known as do-it-yourself , is deeply rooted in agricultural culture. Farmers and breeders are used to making their own tools tailored to the needs of their farms," notes Simon Moinard, head of the AgroTIC mobilab at the Institut Agro Montpellier (a partner of the PUI). To support farmers in their desire to optimize their practices, Simon Moinard travels the countryside of the Hérault region at the wheel of the mobilab.
Exploring new avenues
This mobile workshop, built in a van, aims to bring innovation directly to farmers in their workplace. "People often think that the worlds of agriculture and digital technology are incompatible, but that's not true! Farmers love to tinker, and if you show them how digital technology works with a 'low-tech' approach, they are completely open to new ideas, specifying solutions that could meet their specific needs... Especially if the solution is simple, fast, and inexpensive! Some of them even become real geeks," continues the manager. And in fact, since 2019, more than 1,300 people have been reached. That was all it took to motivate the team to develop a second version of the project with a fully equipped van: 3D printer, drone, sensors of all kinds, tools... Everything needed to work together on the ground.
Traveling to meet farmers allows the Agro Institute team to explore new avenues by identifying their needs and possible solutions. Among his small successes, Simon Moinard cites "Coup de pouce,"a 3D-printed finger that allows a farmer to operate an irrigation pump via a simple text message. Thanks to this small device, which costs only €20, farmers no longer have to travel several miles every day to turn their pumps on and off. Another example is AgroCam, a tool for monitoring crops throughout the season using time-lapse photography: "Every day at noon, a photo of the plot is taken automatically, allowing users to see how the plants are growing from day to day. There are a plethora of uses for farmers." To share these ideas with as many people as possible, each of these innovations is then the subject of a video tutorial that is accessible to everyone and posted on the Mobilab website.
Between technology and the earth
The Mobilab is also a training tool designed to make new technologies accessible to this audience. "We sometimes meet farmers who have purchased sensors but, without guidance, are not using them properly. We take the time to explain how these tools work so that they can get the most out of them. " And the benefits can sometimes be very significant for these agricultural workers: time savings, as we have seen with "Coup de pouce," water savings with soil moisture sensors, and ecological gains thanks to day-to-day crop monitoring, which makes it possible to reduce the use of phytosanitary products. "We are seeing new, ingenious sensors coming onto the market that can measure the photosynthetic indicator of plants, for example," adds the engineer.
To build lasting bridges between technology and the land, the AgroTIC mobilab is preparing to extend its project to agricultural high schools to train future farmers in digital tools from the outset. The mobilab is also a project widely supported by the Occitanie region via Occitanum, a scheme coordinated byINRAE and bringing together more than 46 partners involved in the agroecological transition. The second source of funding is Le Mas Numérique, a site demonstrating innovative technologies aimed at winegrowers. Located on the Chapitre estate of the Institut Agro in Villeneuve-les-Maguelones, this other living lab also aims to bring technology to the fields with the support of fourteen corporate sponsors: connected weather station, disease prediction model, spray adjustment, regulatory traceability of pesticides, etc. After a short tour of Burgundy and Champagne in February, Simon Moinard will embark on a Mobilab Tour 2024 with the aim of making one visit per day for a week in May. Innovation in the service of agroecology is on its way.
The Montpellier University Innovation Hub (PUI)
The Agro Institute is one of the fourteen founding members of the Montpellier University Innovation Cluster (PUI), led by the University of Montpellier. The objectives of the PUI are to encourage collaborative research between laboratories and businesses, develop technology transfer, and stimulate business creation. It now has 38 member organizations, bringing together stakeholders from higher education, research, the socio-economic world, and Montpellier's innovation ecosystem.