Pre-registration
Endpoints, replication and analysis method are fixed in the signed protocol before sowing. We do not select the measure that flatters the result after the fact.
About the center
An independent center built to answer one question honestly
Ferme Innovante Ghassan exists to close the distance between a promising result in a laboratory and a decision a grower, a regulator or an investor can actually rely on.
Origin
Why the center exists
Agricultural innovation has a translation problem. A compound performs in a growth chamber, a formulation shows promise on a laboratory bench, a sensor reads beautifully in a controlled trial — and then the technology reaches a real field, in real weather, in real soil, and the effect disappears.
The gap is not usually scientific fraud. It is the absence of a rigorous intermediate step: an evaluation carried out under commercial growing conditions, by a party with nothing to gain from the outcome.
Ferme Innovante Ghassan was established to be that step. We are a working agricultural site in Saint-Amand-les-Eaux, in the Hauts-de-France region, configured as a research instrument: replicated experimental blocks, standardised protocols, controlled application records and a measurement discipline borrowed from clinical research rather than from agronomic demonstration.
Independence
Our independence is structural, not aspirational
Independence is easy to claim and hard to prove. These are the arrangements that make ours verifiable, and we will put every one of them in writing before a contract is signed.
- 01We do not manufacture, formulate, distribute or resell agricultural inputs of any kind.
- 02We hold no equity, royalty interest or success-linked fee in any technology we evaluate.
- 03Fees are fixed at contract and are not contingent on the direction of the result.
- 04Where a conflict of interest could be perceived, we disclose it before accepting the work — or we decline it.
- 05The client may not amend findings. They may append a written response, published alongside.
- 06Raw data belongs to the client, but our right to state that a trial took place is not negotiable.
Standards of practice
How we work, in six commitments
Concurrent controls
Control arms are managed in the same block, on the same days, by the same hands, receiving matched water volume and timing. Historical controls are not accepted as substitutes.
Blinding where feasible
Where formulation appearance permits, treatment identity is masked from the person taking measurements until the dataset is locked.
Complete reporting
Every plot that was sown appears in the report, including those lost to weather, pest damage or handling error, with the reason recorded.
Stated limitations
Single-site, single-season results are labelled as such. We will tell you what your data does not yet support.
Data handover
You receive the raw measurement file, the analysis script and the photographic archive — not only the summary document.
Capability
The team behind the plots
The center runs on a small permanent core supported by a network of specialist collaborators engaged per programme — biometricians, plant pathologists, soil scientists and regulatory advisors. Work is not subcontracted without your knowledge.
- —Scientific direction — protocol design, endpoint selection, interpretation and reporting.
- —Field operations — plot establishment, application logging, measurement rounds and record integrity.
- —Biometrics — experimental design, power calculation, statistical analysis and figure production.
- —Regulatory affairs — alignment of trial design with dossier and claim-substantiation requirements.
Get started
Ask us the difficult question first
The most useful conversations start with what you are worried the data might show. Bring that, and we will tell you whether a trial here can answer it.