All the news

• Gaining an insight into IWM experiments
  

  More than 100 farmers, technicians and agronomists have been given an insight into Integrated Weed Management (IWM) through on open day held at Veneto Agricoltura’s Vallevecchia experimental farm in Italy. Visitors were able to witness the farm’s ongoing experimental work as part of IWMPRAISE (Integrated Weed Management: PRActical Implementation and Solutions for Europe), Europe’s first Horizon 2020 project dedicated solely to weed management.

• TRUE interviews now online
  

  There is a chance to catch up with some of the case study leaders in the TRUE project (‘TRansition paths to sUstainable legume based systems in Europe’) through video interviews recorded during a meeting of the Atlantic Legume Innovation Network held earlier this year.

• DiverIMPACTS: Conference and interview
  

  A major European conference on crop diversification is scheduled for September 18 to 21, 2019. Organised by DiverIMPACTS (Diversification through Rotation, Intercropping, Multiple Cropping, Promoted with Actors and value-Chains towards Sustainability) and other projects targeting crop diversification, it will be held in Budapest, Hungary.

• James Hutton Institute welcomes vertical farm
  

  One of the world’s most advanced indoor farming facilities has opened at the Dundee site of ENDURE’s Scottish partner, the James Hutton Institute. The facility will be used to showcase Intelligent Growth Solutions’ (IGS) power and communications technologies which are designed to reduce the barriers to vertical farming.

• Models provide late blight insights
  

  Wageningen University & Research, ENDURE’s Dutch partner, has reported on the success of social-ecological modelling of potato late blight in providing important insights for farmers, breeders, potato traders, retailers and governments. In particular, this approach has demonstrated the important role resistant varieties can play in disease control providing there is adequate cooperation between all stakeholders in the potato sector.

• Seeking a head start to combat wheat rust
  

  A new European project has been launched to help tackle the increased threat to wheat crops from invasive races of rust. In particular, RustWatch, coordinated by ENDURE partner Aarhus University, will provide a new early warning system to boost preparedness and resilience to new invasive wheat rust races.

• AU seeks plant pathology professor
  

  Aarhus University (AU), one of ENDURE’s Danish partners, is seeking a professor in plant pathology for its Department of Agroecology, a position designed to bolster its research competence in the epidemiology of plant pathogens.

• Stepping up Integrated Weed Management
  

  The first newsletter from the IWMPRAISE project is now available, providing updates on the European Union’s first research and innovation project focusing solely on Integrated Weed Management (IWM) as a means of reducing herbicide use.

• ACP course sparks South-East Asian ‘twin’
  

  Drawing inspiration from ENDURE’s Agroecological Crop Protection (ACP) international training course held in Volterra, Italy, a ‘Twin Scientist School’ was staged in Can Tho, Vietnam, in March, providing the opportunity for 23 participants to learn more about the ACP approach, which is seen as providing important benefits for crop protection in South-East Asia.

• Award marks Franco-Hungarian collaboration
  

  ENDURE coordinator Antoine Messéan has been made an Honorary Professor at Szent István University in Gödöllö, Hungary, in recognition of the long-standing collaboration between his institute, France’s National Institute for Agricultural Research (INRA), and the Hungarian university. It is a relationship first forged in collaborations for various Diabrotica-related European projects from 2000 and, specifically, 14 years ago during the preparation stage for the ENDURE Network of Excellence.