PAO Facilities Crop & Livestock Support Team AMDORE

AMDORE – Tooling Biodiversity Restoration on Farms: Improving a Result-Oriented Approach

The erosion of biodiversity is an undeniable fact, with agriculture highlighted as the primary driver of this decline. The challenge of preserving and restoring biodiversity has sparked growing mobilization from various stakeholders, including naturalist associations, public authorities, and the agricultural sector. Beyond the willingness to act, a major question arises: how can ambitious biodiversity targets be met when the very concept of biodiversity conservation is not universally shared? What approaches, tools, and knowledge must be developed so that biodiversity becomes as central to agricultural stakeholders as production itself?

Objectives

Spiranthes spiralis
Spiranthes spiralis

The AMDORE project (funded by Biosefair 2021–2023) aimed to develop a result-oriented approach applicable at the farm scale. This methodology was implemented at the Saint-Laurent-de-la-Prée Experimental Unit and initiated at the FERLUS Experimental Unit (Lusignan).

Initial results showed that successful application relies on:

  • Collective buy-in (from farm managers and staff) regarding the approach and restoration goals.
  • The selection of relevant indicators to monitor the impact of actions taken.

AMDORE proposes to explore these two elements through action-research to:

Evolve the methodology by integrating a collaborative design stage for biodiversity issues.

  • Identify meaningful biodiversity indicators that are easy to implement on-site without requiring specialists for data collection or analysis.
  • We focus on methodological frameworks that position biodiversity management as a core objective for the farmer, fostering true ownership of the issue. This project will be implemented at the Animal Physiology Experimental Unit of l’Orfrasière (PAO – INRAE Val de Loire, Nouzilly).

Methodology

The approach consists of co-constructing a project with partners (in this case, PAO unit staff) to set quantifiable biodiversity targets (target taxa and/or specific habitats) and the actions required to reach them. In this framework, researchers provide expertise but do not dictate the final choices.

The project definition is built through several group workshops:

Carabe noir
Carabe noir
  • Shared Representations: Aligning how stakeholders who will implement the actions perceive biodiversity.
  • Knowledge Sharing: Discussing the "types of biodiversity" identified in the first workshop and selecting those that will be the focus of action.
  • Action Planning: Developing the specific measures to be taken and the corresponding performance indicators (including measurement protocols).

The results are synthesized in a dashboard to share progress, identify successes and difficulties, and co-analyze their causes. Participants then adapt and redesign the project for the following year to improve outcomes. This review of the gap between expected and actual results is conducted annually, with the project being adapted whenever necessary.

The rollout will begin within the Equine Department of the PAO Unit (6 staff members leading the project) before being extended to all teams across the experimental domain

Participants

Structures INRAE

  • UE PAO - Animal Physiology Experimental Unit of l’Orfrasière
  • UMR PRC - Physiology of Reproduction and Behavior
  • UE Saint-Laurent-de-la-Prée - Saint-Laurent-de-la-Prée Experimental Unit
  • UMR SADAPT - Sciences for Action and Development: Activities, Products, Territories

By: Sylvie V. Publication date: 26 January 2026 Modification date: 13 February 2026