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Paper short abstract

Why do bacteriophages remain marginal in agriculture? This paper examines how infrastructures built for chemical pesticides constrain the development of phage-based agroecological alternatives.

Paper long abstract

Can viruses replace certain chemical pesticides? While bacteriophages appear to be promising allies in the agroecological transition, their limited diffusion primarily reveals the inadequacy of current infrastructures, which were designed for a chemically based agricultural system.

The collective within which our interdisciplinary research is embedded (Milanovic et al. forthcoming) broadly focuses on the innovation represented by the use of bacteriophages from the perspective of agricultural phage therapy. What challenges must these phages undergo in order to reach their potential users? Beyond the regulatory and social acceptability issues most often emphasized, this presentation seeks to shed light on the role of infrastructures as obstacles to the development of this innovation.

This paper identifies several such obstacles. The first concerns scientific infrastructures—those through which data are produced—situated between field data and laboratory data, between “labscape” and “landscape” (Kohler, 2002). These include not only the data required to demonstrate phage efficacy, but also, as a second obstacle, the regulatory approval procedures required to obtain market authorization. Both the expected forms of evidence and the current regulatory procedures are calibrated for an intensive agricultural model that is poorly suited to agroecological practices based on the use of living microorganisms.

Finally, the infrastructures involved in the “scalability work” required to move toward the industrial production of phage-based biocontrol solutions must also be considered (production tools, distribution channels, and market structuring).

Developing a genuine “phage sector” therefore requires rethinking the infrastructures that currently act as barriers and implementing those that can support its development.