All the news

• Learning from PURE: Protected crops
  

  One of the legacies of the PURE project (‘Innovative crop protection for sustainable agriculture’) is a range of resources to encourage the implementation of Integrated Pest Management solutions in a selection of crops. Of these, comprehensive material is available for IPM in protected crops, with a particular focus on tomato production.

• Potato blight info now online
  

  The proceedings of EuroBlight’s 15th workshop, held in Brasov, Romania, in 2015, are now available on the network’s website. The main objective of the workshop was to present and discuss recent results on integrated control of late and early blight in potato.

• Interview: Jürgen Köhl, BIOCOMES
  

  The BIOCOMES (‘Biological control manufacturers in Europe develop novel biological control products to support the implementation of Integrated Pest Management in agriculture and forestry’) project is aiming to deliver at least 11 new biological products to control significant diseases and pests over the coming years. With the project, which brings together 27 business and research partners from 14 different countries, passing the halfway point, ENDURE spoke to BIOCOMES coordinator Jürgen Köhl (pictured right) from Wageningen UR in the Netherlands.

• UK invests in innovative agriculture
  

  The United Kingdom is investing £68 million (€87 million) in the launch of three new Centres for Agricultural Innovation, focusing on crop health and protection, agricultural engineering and precision farming, and excellence in livestock production. The three new centres will collaborate with the first Centre for Agricultural Innovation, launched late last year, which is called Agrimetrics and deals with data science and modelling.

• Focusing on the value of demonstration farms
  

  A joint workshop focusing on the organisation and benefits of Integrated Pest Management demonstration farms is to be held in Bonn, Germany, in May 2016. The event is being jointly organised by the C-IPM ERA-NET, Germany’s Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture (BMEL) and the European Commission's Directorate-General for Health and Food Safety (DG SANTE).

• C-IPM issues second transational call
  

  The second transnational call for collaborative research projects from the Coordinated Integrated Pest Management ERA-NET (C-IPM) is now open for pre-proposals, bringing together partners from 18 countries across Europe and a total budget of around €7.3 million.

• SSSA evaluates biopesticide dossiers
  

  ENDURE partner Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna of Pisa (SSSA) has been appointed by the Italian Ministry of Health (MinSal) as one of the research institutes responsible for the scientific evaluation of dossiers relating to the registration, re-registration and renewal of authorisations for biopesticides. Professor Paolo Bàrberi (pictured right) is the scientist responsible for this agreement.

• Sustainability indicators added to Italy NAP
  

  Researchers from the Institute of Life Sciences at the Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna in Pisa, one of ENDURE’s Italian partners, have played a central role in establishing a new set of indicators for the sustainability of cropping systems, which is to be added to Italy’s National Action Plan (NAP).

• Sustainable weed control: what France has learned
  

  Given Europe’s desire to cultivate crops in more sustainable ways less dependent on chemical inputs, the problem of weed control in arable crops remains an important stumbling block. To address this, France has made considerable investments in trials and research, with the knowledge gathered providing possibilities for reducing herbicide use while guarding agronomic and economic performance. Here we report on a major meeting held to discuss progress and provide links to a raft of further information.

• Network launched for enhanced fruit production
  

  A thematic network focusing on fruit production in the European Union has been launched, with the ambition of unleashing, stimulating and using Europe’s research potential to exploit new opportunities in the fresh produce category. Called EUFRUIT, it brings together 21 partners from 12 different countries and is being funded under the Horizon 2020 programme.