Setting out in France

Location: Grignon, France
Local Time: Late at night, as always!
Madison Time: 5:37 PM

The beautiful Chateau at the center of the INRA-AgroParisTech campus in Grignon.

Hello Again! I'm finally back online and getting ready to set out for my field work in northern France. I have spent the last week and a half working with Prof. Thierry Doré and Dr. David Makowski of the Agronomy Department at INRA/AgroParisTech - a joint research institution between France's L'Institut national de la recherche agronomique (National Institute of Agronomic Research) and the university, AgroParisTech. I am extremely grateful for the help of Prof. Doré and Dr. Makowski who are helping arrange my field work here and who have provided me with access to a plethora of interview participants as well as massive amounts of data. I have found myself surrounded by a very supportive community here at INRA-AgroParisTech!

The Agronomy Building.

I also had a chance to meet with Dr. Nathalie de Noblet and other members of the Laboratoire des Sciences du Climat et de l'Environnement (LSCE), where I learned about their extensive work investigating interactions between agricultural and climatic systems.


As discussed in a previous entry, the Picardie region of northern France has a very low yield gap relative to the Southern Federal District in Russia according to the my initial global-scale analysis. I will use interviews with wheat farmers and other experts to investigate the land management practices, policies, and production trends found in the region. I will compare these factors with those of the Southern Federal District to try and understand what aspects of the winter wheat cropping systems might be causing the striking yield gaps observed between the two regions. Finally, after returning to the US, I will compare these wheat cropping systems with those which can be found in Wisconsin.


Since arriving in Grignon, I have been getting acquainted with the Agronomy department and preparing for my next round of interviews. I have also been analyzing census statistics that I will use to complement my interview-based analysis of winter wheat cropping systems - something that I am also doing for the Southern Federal District and Wisconsin. On Wednesday, I kicked off my interview work in France with an agricultural economist and two agronomists.

On Sunday, I will stop by the train station to pick up my trip companion and translator-extraordinaire, Jeanne, and will drive two hours north of Grignon to the Picardie region - the second most important wheat-producing part of France, following Centre. France has 26 regions total, which are broken into departments. I will be conducting interviews in each of the three departments of Picardie: Somme, Aisne, and Oise. Picardie produces about 10% of France's wheat crop, with some of the highest wheat yields in the world. Cereals like wheat cover 720,000 of the 1,300,000 cultivated hectares in the region.

Interestingly, Picardie is also France's leading producer of peas and endives, and Jeanne and I will be spending two nights at a bed and breakfast on an endive farm. More information on endive farming to follow! For now, it's off to bed. Tomorrow I will pick up the car, pack my bags, and get ready to hit the fields! Until next time!

Sunrise out my window overlooking the old farm equipment storage building-turned-cafeteria.

Being a 25 minute train ride from Paris has allowed for some nice weekend excursions! Pictured here, the Louvre.

And of course the token Eiffel Tower picture!