Information on species and cultivars of forage plants available to farmers.

摘要

Many species and cultivars of forage plants are available on the French market. Farmers can only take advantage of this diversity and of the corresponding genetic progress if they have access to the keys to the choice between species and cultivars.The issue of what information is available, how it reaches the farmers, and how it is received by them is of considerable importance. Documents and technical references on forage species and cultivars are not numerous. Apart from exchanges of experiencebetween farmers, their main sources of information are the distributors of commodities and the agricultural advisers; their efficiency varies according to the type of farmer met, and moreover their aims are widely different, or even contradictory. The 'Fourrages-Mieux' campaign has shown that farmers are quite receptive to messages concerning species and cultivars of forage plants, provided their source of information receives messages adapted to their requirements.