All the news

• Online analysis of late blight DSS
  

  Late blight is the most serious disease to affect potatoes, and costs the farming industry worldwide a staggering €4 billion per year in crop losses and treatments. However, protecting potatoes against the disease caused by the pseudo-fungus Phytophthora infestans is becoming more efficient and sophisticated thanks to the use of Decision Support Systems (DSS).

• French report on landscape ecology
  

  France’s Club Adalia, which brings together a wide range of professionals in the agricultural and food sectors, reported recently on the work of ENDURE’s team dedicated to landscape ecology and its participation at this year’s European International Association of Landscape Ecology Conference in Salzburg, Austria.

• Wheat focus at BCPC Congress
  

  Wheat production was under the spotlight at the British Crop Production Council’s 2009 Congress, held in the Scottish city of Glasgow, thanks to presentations from ENDURE’s Lise Nistrup Jørgensen and Neal Evans.

• Biocontrols in the spotlight
  

  More than 350 delegates representing more than 200 companies and organisations from all over the world attended the Annual Biocontrol Industry Meeting (ABIM), which was held over two days in Lucerne, Switzerland, in October.

• ENDURE Network of Advisers seeks recruits
  

  ENDURE is stepping up its recruitment efforts for the ENDURE Network of Advisers (ENA), membership of which is open to any European advisers (state, private and company) who are directly involved in advising farmers on a daily basis.

• Workshop to tackle IPM for potato blights
  

  EuroBlight, the European potato late blight network, will be staging a workshop in the French city of Arras in May 2010, with the objective of presenting and discussing recent results on integrated control for both late and early blight.

• French Academy to focus on IPM
  

  France's Académie d'Agriculture (Academy of Agriculture) is to focus on Integrated Pest Management (IPM) later this month, in a session organised by, and featuring, ENDURE speakers. The event, to be held on November 25 in Paris, has been organised by Bernard Blum, leader of ENDURE’s team examining the exploitation of natural biological processes.

• Annual Meeting: Creating lasting achievements
  

  ENDURE members face the challenge of translating “very significant advances” into “visible and lasting achievements” over the coming months, coordinator Pierre Ricci told delegates at the Network of Excellence’s Annual Meeting held recently in the Netherlands.

• 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.