Agro-Louvain Services platform (PALS)
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Picture credits : CARI - CDAF - NATAGRIWAL - REQUASUD
Technical and scientific expertise
As part of the University's service to society mission, the Agro-Louvain Services Platform brings together the peripheral entities (PE) of the Earth and Life Institute (ELI) and the Faculty of bioscience engineering (AGRO). The services and expertise provided cover a wide range of topics relating to agriculture, environment, forestry and agri-food.
They relate to studies, advice, research & development, training and outreach, and are carried out by the various partners and PE of UCLouvain:
Centre Apicole de Recherche et d'Information (CARI) asbl (Website)
- Promotion and development of beekeeping, knowledge of bees and maintenance of a pollinator friendly environment allowing their existence
- Accredited laboratory to analyze and valorize the beehive products (honey, pollen, propolis, royal jelly)
Centre de Développement Agro-Forestier de Chimay (CDAF) asbl (Website)
- R&D: monitoring of forest ecosystems, forest management (typology, functions), treatment of stands (regeneration, maintenance, improvement, technical and economic itineraries), agroforestry (planting, maintenance), relationship between silviculture and wood quality
- Training, outreach and services: publications, good silvicultural and agroforestry practices (guides, advice, diagnoses, management plans), protection and restoration measures (environments, soils, water, biodiversity, climate change, forest-wildlife balance, etc.), training (owners, managers, professionals, teachers, students)
Centre agri-environnemental de Michamps (CEMI) asbl (Website)
- Laboratory for agricultural, environmental and agri-food analyzes
- Fields dedicated to experiments in the field of fodder and phytotechnics of crops in the pedoclimatic conditions of Upper Belgium
Centre Indépendant de Promotion Fourragère (CIPF) asbl (Website)
- Agricultural experimentation and outreach organisation
- Maize, silphium, sorghum and miscanthus crops
- Field trials to improve agricultural practices while considerably reducing their environmental impacts (eg : reduction of soil erosion, development of mechanical weeding, research on low-input crops = ↓ PPP, ↓ mineral fertilization, …)
Coordination recherche et développement rural (CORDER) asbl (Website)
- Information dedicated to various actors in the rural world in Wallonia about sustainable and integrated plant protection
- Exchanges and discussions on the use of plant protection products and the current approaches to ensure plant health
Fourrages Mieux asbl (Website)
- Pilot centre for advising farmers in the field of grasslands and fodder
- Comparison trials of fodder species and varieties, and trials on grassland crop science (at UCLouvain)
Natagriwal asbl (Website)
- Information, advice and support for farmers, foresters and public or private owners in the implementation of the agri-environmental programme and the European ecological network Natura 2000
Protect'Eau asbl (Website)
- Advice to Walloon farmers and other users of plant protection products to preserve water quality from the risks associated with the use of nitrogen and phytopharmaceuticals
- Personalised technical advice to reduce the risk of contamination of our water resources
Réseau Qualité Sud (REQUASUD) asbl (Website)
- Network of Walloon laboratories performing 5 types of analyses: microbiological analyses of foodstuffs*, mineral and organic analyses of manure and feed*, NIR, soil minerals and nitrates.
- Organization of interlaboratory comparisons and quality audits (ISO 17025)
- Databases with the analytical results of more than 1M samples
* performed at UCLouvain
Valorisation de la Biomasse (VALBIOM) asbl (Website)
- Advanced scientific, technical and economic skills in the field of the biosourced economy at the service of territories, municipalities, regional services, project managers and companies
- Long-term vision and systemic thinking for a reliable, economic and sustainable approach to preserve resources and propose solutions to respond to climate change.
Services available to
- UCLouvain students and researchers
- Non-UCLouvain parties