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    CoSAC aims to better manage and use agroecosystem services by maintaining optimum production levels. It focuses on the management of weeds, which are a major pest in farming systems, but also a source of biodiversity in agricultural landscapes and are an important trophic resource for animal biodiversity in arable crops. The latter provide the bulk of food production in Europe and also contribute to the production of green energy.

The main objective of the proposed work is the design of weed management strategies mobilizing innovative combinations of practices by combining pest control, reduced pesticide use, maintenance of production levels, and preserving biodiversity and services rendered by weeds. The performance of these innovative strategies, particularly their sustainability, will be evaluated with a multi-criteria approach.

To a lesser extent, the project also contributes to the challenge "sober resource management and adaptation to climate change" by :

(1) proposing efficient agricultural systems in terms of input use (herbicides, inorganic nitrogen ...)

(2) improving our knowledge of the agroecosystem functioning at different temporal and landscape scales to predict the performance of different management scenarios, and by (3) exploring the impact of different climate change scenarios on  weed management.

The expected benefits for society reflect the issues addressed by the project in terms of impact of weed management practices, especially in the agricultural world. More generally, this project will develop alternative agricultural systems that minimize the environmental and health impacts and maximize services.