All the news

• Germany sets out future for PPPs
  

  Germany’s Federal Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Consumer Protection has - after consultation with other ministries - identified a range of measures it will need to take in order to successfully implement the European Union’s Framework Directive on the sustainable use of pesticides.

• ICPC scientists: Apply now for 2010 grants
  

  ENDURE has launched its 2010 grant scheme for International Cooperation Partner Country (ICPC) scientists, offering three researchers the possibility of qualifying for travel grants and a monthly living allowance of up to €2,000 per month for a stay of up to three months at one of the ENDURE network universities or research institutes.

• Foresight study: looking south and east
  

  ENDURE’s foresight team headed to the Mediterranean Agronomic Institute of Chania on the Greek island of Crete in September to gather input from researchers based in central and eastern Europe as part of their project to outline the future of European crop protection heading towards the year 2030.

• Pesticides package clears final hurdle
  

  The European Union’s new pesticides ‘package’ has cleared its final hurdle and will enter the statute books, despite last minute opposition from some ministers. The package changes both the way pesticides are regulated across Europe and the way they are used.

• EuroWheat: online wheat disease management
  

  Winter wheat may be Europe’s largest cereal crop but growing it is not without its problems, with disease epidemics in particular affecting both grain yield and quality. However, these diseases can be managed in a variety of ways, as a new website explains.

• Modelling post-doc: details now online
  

  An opportunity for a post-doc position at INRIA, the French National Institute for Research in Computer Science and Control, has been announced in ENDURE’s Job Opportunity pages. The position involves ‘Modelling the airborne dispersal of a pathogen over a highly structured and anthropized perennial crop cover’ and is based at INRIA’s University of Bordeaux 2 department.

• Landscape ecology: The bigger picture
  

  Rather like the ENDURE Network itself, landscape ecology is an interdisciplinary science, bringing together scientists with different specialities in a way that holds out intriguing possibilities for improving our understanding of how we can progress in Integrated Pest Management (IPM).

• Market access is key to apple strategies
  

  English-speaking people grow up with the knowledge that an apple a day keeps the doctor away, but the healthy image of this popular fruit is tainted in the eyes of some people by the number of pesticide treatments apples can be subject to.

• November deadline for fourth mobility plan
  

  ENDURE has launched its fourth mobility plan, giving scientists from ENDURE partner institutions the opportunity to conduct research at other organisations, both within the network and beyond. Applications for the fourth mobility plan have to be made before midnight on November 7 2009 and mobility placements will run from January through to November 2010.

• Poster opportunity for French conference
  

  Poster presentations are being welcomed for the first annual event organised by Le pole de compétitivité Q@LI-MEDiterranée, the group which brings together some 1,200 different organisations working in the fields of agriculture, agricultural research and the food industry in Languedoc-Roussillon, France.