All the news

• 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.

• IPM ‘packages’ undergo field testing
  

  The EUCLID project’s Integrated Pest Management (IPM) ‘packages’ are currently undergoing field testing with farmers, offering alternative approaches for combating pests and diseases in three important crops (grapes, leafy vegetables and tomatoes).

• £5 million boost to UK research
  

  Four of the United Kingdom’s leading universities and research centres have been given a £5.3 million (around €6 milllion) boost to fund their work on improving crop resilience, sustainability and quality. The recipients, including ENDURE partner Rothamsted Research (pictured), will receive the funding over the next five years to “help develop new technologies and environmentally friendly production for farmers and growers across the country”.

• Biocontrol on the march in France
  

  French Integrated Pest Management (IPM) experts have provided an update on the biological control situation in the country, where these alternative control methods continue to be become more widely used in IPM strategies. The authors identify some of the key drivers behind these developments, including legal changes to encourage the development of new biocontrol options, major investments in both public and private research, the development of experimental networks and projects and the incorporation of biocontrol in the country’s pesticide savings certificate scheme (Certificats d’Economie de Produits de Phytopharmaceutiques or CEPP).