All the news

• 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.

• May closing event for AMIGA project
  

  The closing event of the AMIGA project (Assessing and Monitoring the Impacts of Genetically modified plants on Agro-ecosystems) is being held in Brussels on May 10 and 11, 2016, marking the end of 54 months of laboratory, field experiments and mathematical modelling involving 22 research groups in 15 countries.

• Scottish partner hosts Technical Day
  

  The James Hutton Institute, ENDURE’s Scottish partner, staged a Technical Day for Farmers on June 9 this year. Building on the successful event two years ago, the 2016 Technical Day highlighted science and practice around topical issues including soil management and soil conservation, Integrated Pest Management (IPM), nitrogen usage and cycling including N-fixation, precision agriculture and the design of field margins and boundaries.

• New project to ‘deepen sustainability’
  

  A new European Union-funded project has been launched to “deepen the roots of sustainability in agri-food systems by harnessing scientific and local knowledge, people’s energy, motivation and innovation skills around the theme of agro-biodiversity by making use of novel, improved and demand-driven ICT (information communications technology) solutions”.

• Reducing reliance on conventional pesticides
  

  Experts from ENDURE and the European Research Area Network in Coordinated Integrated Pest Management (ERA-Net C-IPM) have reviewed the current state of the art of Integrated Pest Management (IPM) research and development, with a particular focus on how European agriculture is moving from conventional crop protection systems to IPM systems less reliant on pesticides, the major challenges encountered during this transition and future priorities to overcome existing IPM R&D challenges and so facilitate the uptake of more sustainable crop protection systems in European agriculture.

• New group to boost European agroecology
  

  A new association has been created to promote agroecology in Europe. Called Agroecology Europe, its 19 founding members come from 10 countries across the continent, including representatives from several ENDURE partners.