All the news

• Interview: Pierre Ricci, ENDURE coordinator
  

  ENDURE coordinator Pierre Ricci (pictured right) is director of INRA’s Institut Sophia Agrobiotech, a French National Institute for Agricultural Research base on the Mediterranean coast, sandwiched between Nice and Cannes. With the ENDURE Network of Excellence entering its third year of operation, ENDURE’s web editor, Andrew Lewer, caught up with him. You can read the interview, or watch the video (see bottom of page).

• Italian partner seeks PhD candidates
  

  One of ENDURE's two Italian partners, the Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies of Pisa (SSSUP), is about to launch the sixth year of its International Doctoral Programme in Agrobiodiversity.

• Grants for ICPC scientists now available
  

  ENDURE has launched an international call for applications for grants for two scientists from International Cooperation Partner Countries (ICPC) who wish to spend a period of up to three months working at one of the network's universities or research institutions.

• Brussels audience for ENDURE's foresight team
  

  ENDURE scientists were recently invited by Mrs Erna Hennicot, Member of the European Parliament, to present their study on the future of crop protection in Europe at the European Parliament in Brussels.

• System case studies: taking a broader view
  

  While there is undeniable merit in being able to find quick and effective cures for specific pest problems in a particular crop, ENDURE is in the fortunate position of also being able to take a broader view, examining entire cropping systems using a variety of scientific disciplines.

• Training dates for weeds and wheat
  

  ENDURE’s group dedicated to training has two events coming up. On Wednesday April 1 the Danish Agricultural Advisory Service, the ENDURE member which advises farmers in Denmark, will be staging a half-day course on the identification, biology and management of grass weeds in the town of Herning.

• UK push for agricultural science
  

  The important role agricultural science plays in feeding the world has been emphasised in a new publication in the UK, and coincides with a strong push to encourage more students into the sector.

• Innovative technologies: from DNA to spray
  

  Can you imagine a world where a farmer automatically receives a warning each time a potential problem is detected in his fields? Or where the potential threat this may pose is automatically calculated making decision-making simple? And, when action is needed, can you imagine the farmer being able to spray just a tiny amount of pesticide directly at the problem, secure in the knowledge the pest has been dealt with?

• EU and pesticides: online info and update
  

  The European Union has completed its 16-year review of around 1,000 active substances authorised for use in pesticides across the continent before 1993. The result is a list of about 250 substances which have passed the harmonised EU safety assessment and can be authorised for use by Member States.

• IPM for vegetables: a hot topic
  

  Many newspaper headlines during the recent passing of the European Union’s new ‘pesticides package’ focused on the potentially serious consequences for Europe’s vegetable producers, making ENDURE’s field vegetable case study timely as well as important.