Coordination and Strategy Office
The Coordination and Strategy Office plays a cross-disciplinary role within the CRA-W. On a day-to-day basis, the DCS assists the General Director in devising strategies for carrying out the official's tasks.
It designs, promotes and implements a policy of continuous quality improvement for support functions and agricultural professions.
It also designs and develops the CRA-W's communication strategy, provides cross-disciplinary support and ensures the coordination of the Pilot Centres, the REQUASUD network and organic farming research.
Communication Service
Improvement and Quality Branch
Pilot Centres Support Unit
Support Unit for the non-profit organisation Réseau Qualité Sud
Transversal Research Cell for Organic production
Improvement and Quality Branch (IQB)
The Improvement and Quality Branch provides for the development and maintenance of Quality Systems throughout the CRA-W, according to the needs of the research teams and support services.
The reference systems ISO 17025 (test/analysis laboratories), GLP (Good Laboratory Practice), ISO 17020 (inspection service), ISO 17043 (organisation of proficiency tests), GEP (Good Experimental Practice) and CPVO (Community Plant Variety Office) are currently applied in different departments.
The IQB is also required to participate in maximising the effectiveness of the CRA-W as a whole by incorporating all the various management systems (quality, environment, health, data security,...).
Communication Service
The Communication Service develops the CRA-W's communication strategy.
Pilot Centres Support Unit
The Pilot Centres Support Unit is responsible for facilitating a closer coordination of the Pilot Centres' activities. It aims to develop complementary relations and collaborative initiatives between those involved in training and extension services for the Walloon agricultural production sectors.
The Support Unit provides assistance in developing a common IT platform (centrespilotes.be) for the benefit of users and for closer inter-platform interaction.
Support Unit for the non-profit organisation Réseau Qualité Sud (REQUASUD)
REQUASUD's network of laboratories has helped to maintain and improve a high-performance analysis and advisory tool, designed to provide assistance to farmers and the agri-food sector in managing their output and businesses.
The REQUASUD Support Unit works together with the reference laboratories to organise inter-laboratory tests, develop and validate the centralised database, and oversee all the cross-disciplinary projects in the network.
Transversal Research Cell for Organic production
In the implementation of the Plan for the Development of Organic Production in Wallonia by 2030, the Transversal Organic Production Research Cell (CtRP-Bio) is responsible for coordinating research activities in organic production (OP) and for capitalising on and facilitating the transfer of research results in OP to users.
In this context, the CtRP-Bio:
- produces, updates and disseminates
- an inventory of research work in OP and research demands from the OP sector via FREDO tool,
- an inventory of scientific skills useful for OP;
- facilitates the work of CRA-W research teams by supporting the implementation of OP trials;
- regularly presents the results of Walloon research work in OP.