All the news

• September 2020 date for biocontrol group
  

  The International Organization for Biological and Integrated Control West Palearctic Regional Section (IOBC-WPRS) is staging the 16th meeting of its Biological and Integrated Control of Plant Pathogens working group in 2020. Running from September 14 to 17, 2020, the event is being held at Poland’s University of Gdansk.

• Country profile: Lithuania
  

  In the latest of our country profiles, Ilma Rimkeviciene, from the PI Lithuanian Agricultural Advisory Service, introduces us to the integrated plant protection information, consulting and training information service the country has introduced as part of its drive towards more sustainable agriculture.

• Call for papers for 2020 pest events
  

  Calls for papers have been issued for two events scheduled for Montpellier SupAgro in southern France in October 2020. First up is the international conference organised once every three years by the pests and beneficials committee of Végéphyl, France’s plant health association.

• Reminder: EUVRIN IPM meeting in November
  

  The next meeting of the Integrated Pest Management (IPM) Working Group of the European Vegetable Research Institutes Network (EUVRIN) will be at Vegenov, Saint Pol de Léon, France, on November 14 and 15, 2019.

• Success and failure in diversification
  

  Researchers examining the factors affecting the success or failure of diversification experiences in agriculture have compiled a database using 128 validated responses from a survey across 12 European countries.

• Diversification cluster goes live!
  

  A new website has been launched by the six Horizon 2020 projects working together in the ‘crop diversification cluster’. ReMIX, one of the projects involved, reports: “Projects within the cluster are collaborating to increase the impact of crop diversification research and encourage sustained uptake of diversification measures by farmers in Europe through innovations across the agri-value chain.”

• Genome advances in grapevine and potato
  

  Two of ENDURE’s partners have reported significant advances in exploring the genomes of important crops which could help lead to the creation of more disease-resistant varieties. France’s INRA (National Institute for Agricultural Research) and its partners have published the first genome sequence of a grapevine rootstock while WUR (Wageningen University & Research) in the Netherlands, working with scale-up Solynta, has published the most complete genome sequence for potatoes to date.

• Potato experts issue blight recommendations
  

  EuroBlight, the network working on early and late blight in potato crops, has issued a series of recommendations to optimise disease control. It follows the 17th EuroBlight workshop held earlier this year, an event which attracted 110 scientists and industry stakeholders from 22 countries, including representatives from similar networks in North America, Latin America, Asia and Africa.

• Conference to focus on mycotoxin management
  

  The MycoKey Horizon 2020 project is to stage an international conference in 2020. Addressing ‘Integrated and innovative key actions for mycotoxin management in the food and feed chain’, the event is being held in Bari, Italy, from March 9 to 12, 2020, and is being organised together with the 2nd International Forum on Mycotoxins in Animal Production and with the participation of the MyToolBox project.

• Glyphosate warning for blackgrass
  

  Researchers at Rothamsted Research, one of ENDURE’s UK partners, have uncovered early signs of glyphosate resistance in blackgrass, one of the country’s most harmful weeds in autumn-sown crops. The news is particularly significant as glyphosate is one of the “last lines of defence” against a weed that has already developed multiple herbicide resistance.