Our need for research has never been more urgent

Humankind and the planet are facing global changes that will create new challenges for research to address in the areas of agriculture, food, and the environment. In particular, it will be necessary to limit the effects of and adapt to climate change; increase food security and nutrition security; transition to new agricultural systems; preserve natural resources; restore biodiversity; and anticipate and manage risks. It will also be important to consider more regional issues like living conditions, farmers' salaries, the economic competitiveness of companies, land use, and universal access to healthy and varied diets.

Science serving life, humans, and the Earth

The result of the merger of INRA¹ and IRSTEA², INRAE is France's National Research Institute for Agriculture, Food and Environment. Number one in the world in these three research areas, the institute’s objective is to find solutions for related challenges using science, innovation, and support for public policies with a view to permanently transforming how we grow food, produce food, and interact with the environment.

Thanks to its diverse research teams, INRAE produces targeted research, via a process in which basic science and applied science go hand in hand and discipline-specific perspectives are paired with interdisciplinary approaches. In this work, it can rely on a network of research infrastructures and experimental research units that has no equal in Europe. INRAE is fully committed to the principles of open science. It also embraces participatory science as a means of engaging with greater numbers of everyday citizens. INRAE is part of France's dynamic network of research institutes and establishments of higher education. It is partnered with 33 local universities and contributes to local policies and French thematic research alliances. Thanks to its international partnerships, the institute collaborates with the best research teams in Europe and the world.

For the common good, INRAE applies a code of ethical practices rooted in responsibility, impartiality, integrity, dignity, and probity in its scientific work and management practices. The institute also makes sustainability a cornerstone of all that it does.

Thanks to its unique origins and its partnerships with a broad diversity of stakeholders, INRAE performs valuable research on numerous topics, including water resources, regional agricultural strategies, the preservation and restoration of biodiversity, risk anticipation and management, and digital agriculture. Its goal is to facilitate transitions towards more sustainable agricultural systems, food systems, aquaculture systems, forestry systems, or regional systems.

Philippe Mauguin "My most sincere wishes for a happy new year for 2020, an exceptional year marked by the creation of INRAE"

^{1French National Institute for Agricultural Research}

^{2French National Research Institute of Science and Technology for the Environment and Agriculture}