Cemagref Éditions’ collection of publications enriches Agate
What do "The forest and its enemies", "Combine harvesters" and "High altitude lakes" have in common? Not much, apparently, apart from a common publisher, Cemagref, the French national centre of agricultural machinery, rural engineering, water and forestry, one of the forerunners of INRAE, whose original collection of publications is now available on Agate.
Introduction
In 2020, INRAE is created from the merger of two French research institutes, INRA and Irstea. Irstea , the latter itself was the result of mergers and transformations of various organisations: Cemagref in a direct line, and further back CNEEMA, CTGREF and CERAFER, technical support and research centres reporting to the Ministry of Agriculture (Box 1)..
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With the mission of promoting the modernisation of agriculture and rural areas while preserving the natural environment, these organisations have produced numerous documents over the years to disseminate knowledge and methods intended for professionals and players in the agricultural world.
The Cemagref Éditions’ collection of publications now available on Agate includes some of these works.
The origins: CNEEMA's technical publications to support the development of agricultural machinery
The post-war period is marked by the urgent need to equip the farming world in order to rebuild the country and feed the French people. In 1955, CNEEMA is set up to provide scientific and technical support for the agricultural professions as they move towards mechanisation. It becomes necessary to produce printed material in order to disseminate technical information to professionals and teachers. The establishment quickly sets up a typesetting department, a photoengraving laboratory and a printing plant, and soon the first works are being published such as educational books, newsletters and test bulletins.
The emblematic product of this period is the first edition of the series "Tractors and agricultural machinery - teacher's book" in four volumes: "Agricultural engines and tractors: technology, operation and maintenance", "Main agricultural machinery for cultivation and harvesting", "Other equipment and economic problems", "Adjustment and maintenance of agricultural machinery". This series of teaching resources for agricultural education quickly becomes the benchmark for agricultural machinery. Thirty years later, in 1990, and following numerous reprints and updates, this work gives way to the "Formagri" collection published by Cemagref-Éditions.
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Cemagref Éditions: a genuine scientific publishing house to communicate and promote
In 1981, Cemagref, the new organisation created by the merger of CNEEMA and CTGREF, continues with the publication and distribution of works. At the same time, an internal study in conjunction with the establishment's scientific management recommends the creation of a publishing house. This is done in 1987. Cemagref Éditions and its associated services are set up within the newly created Communication and Promotion Department, which organises the activity in a structured and professional manner..
The editorial programme is now integrated into the scientific one and linked to the institution's themes. An initial catalogue of publications is drawn up and new collections are created such as Formagri, studies and conference proceedings. Publishing partnerships are also encouraged. Publishing managers support researchers and engineers in updating existing content and producing new works. They are also responsible for coordinating all stages of production.
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On the production side, the layout and infographics department is modernised and starts to use the first digital resources, while the printing and finishing of the publications is gradually entrusted to professional printers.
Finally, the books are distributed through a number of channels: direct in-house sales, sales via a professional distributor and sales to booksellers by Lavoisier.
These initiatives give new impetus to the establishment's publishing activity, and each year around twenty works are published.
Among the flagship titles, the books published in the Formagri collection prove highly popular with teachers. An adapted and modernised version of the contents of the Teacher's Book, this collection of educational works has in turn become "the reference" for teaching agricultural equipment.
Les matériels de récolte des fourrages, ensilage et distribution – Technologie de l’agriculture (Fodder harvesting, silage and distribution equipment), Collection Formagri, volume 6, coordination Camille Cédra, Cemagref Éditions, ITC, Lavoisier-Tec et Doc (1995).
The production of works in the engineering sciences also develops in the domains of water, the environment and natural hazards, and is enriched over time as the establishment's scientific themes evolve. All the titles in the Cemagref Éditions catalogue have thus helped to disseminate and promote the knowledge produced by engineers and researchers to a wide range of users such as professionals, teachers, public policy-makers, scientific and technical partners.
In 2004, an inter-organisational initiative is undertaken with a view to regrouping the publishing activities of Cemagref, INRA, Ifremer and CIRAD. Following an analysis of all the holdings and the creation of editorial themes, an economic interest grouping is set up in July 2006 under the name Éditions Quæ. A new adventure begins...
And nowadays at INRAE?
INRAE, which became a single institute in 2020, is still a founding partner of Éditions Quæ, the joint publishing house set up in 2006 with Ifremer and CIRAD to encourage exchanges between scientists and disseminate knowledge to as wide a public as possible.
The range of subjects covered by the works expands: agriculture and agronomy, environmental sciences, food, the sea, aquatic and marine resources, as well as human and social sciences. The range of readers broadens: on the one hand, academic works that allow the scientific community to share the results of their research, and on the other, works for the general public or the well-informed amateur, which present the state of knowledge in a particular field.
The Éditions Quae are also committed to an open science approach, and on their dedicated Quæ-Open website offer more than 200 scientific works, in French and English, freely available in digital format.
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Discover the Éditions Quae, the publisher for the natural sciences!
[35 second video]
Bibliographic sources
- Du Cemagref à Irstea - Un engagement pour la recherche environnementale, Pascal Griset, 2011, Éditions Quæ, http://doi.org/10.35690/978-2-7592-1685-7.
- Publications et matériels pédagogiques « Machinisme agricole » – Cemagref Productions – 1987.
Text written by Valérie Henri and Valérie Pagneux (INRAE-DipSO) based on notes by Camille Cédra, retired engineer from Cemagref. Thanks to him.
How to cite : Agate Focus : Cemagref Éditions’ collection of publications enriches Agate, Valérie Henri, Valérie Pagneux (INRAE-DipSO), Camille Cédra, October 2023, https://agate.inrae.fr/agate/en/content/highlights