Decision support tool: DIALOG

Dialog is a survey developed as part of a CASDAR Prairies AOP Massif Central project, which enables a technician to carry out an initial diagnosis of the forage system on a grassland farm lacking any references (no calendar on the use of the are, no floristic surveys, etc.). Dialog is designed to take into account the diversity of grasslands on a grassland farm, and enables farmers to discuss their own forage practices. The tool is inspired by Herb'opti, an educational spreadsheet used for training purposes, which uses the plot utilization calendar and simplified vegetation surveys (Herb'type©) to generate graphical representations to support discussions with the farmer (Theau et al., 2012). Designed and tested in partnership as part of the CASDar “Prairies AOP du Massif central” project, Dialog can be used in grassland areas in a PDO dairy production context.

The main users are farmers and their development agents who want to optimize the agronomic potential of grasslands by adjusting grazing and mowing practices.

Dialog is currently being adapted to cover suckler cattle systems, and to include sown grasslands in the diagnosis.