All the news

• LCA ‘limited’ in agroecology assessments
  

  The most commonly used method for analysing the environmental impacts of agricultural systems tends to overlook major factors such as biodiversity, soil quality, pesticide impacts and societal shifts, reports France’s National Research Institute for Agriculture, Food and the Environment (INRAE).

• Agroscope to lead Japanese beetle project
  

  Agroscope, ENDURE’s Swiss partner, is to lead a €5.5 million project to develop sustainable strategies for controlling the quarantine pest, Japanese beetle. The pest was first detected on Switzerland’s southern border in 2017 and it threatens to spread further into Switzerland and elsewhere in Europe.

• Ensuring successful control strategies
  

  An international team of researchers lead by Rothamsted Research has examined the factors that make or break campaigns to stop invading plant pathogens, concluding that educating growers about the effectiveness of control strategies is more important than emphasising the risks posed by the disease.

• EuroBlight unveils 2019 monitoring results
  

  EuroBlight, the international consortium tracking the spatial distribution of Phytophthora infestans, the pathogen responsible for late blight in potato crops, has published the results of its extensive 2019 survey work, revealing the distribution and diversity of dominant clones in the crop.

• New group for chemical pesticide-free agriculture
  

  A new European Research Alliance has been launched, drawing together 24 research organisations from 16 countries focused on the topic ‘Towards a Chemical Pesticide-free Agriculture’. The Alliance includes eight ENDURE partner organisations and “aims to rethink the way research is carried out and develop new common research and experimentation strategies, not just at a national level, but throughout the whole continent”.

• Update: SusCrop issues second call for proposals
  

  The second transnational call for proposals from ERA-Net SusCrop is now open with an extended deadline due to the impact of COVID-19 in many countries. SusCrop is an ERA-Net Cofund Action under H2020, which “aims to strengthen the European Research Area (ERA) in the field of Sustainable Crop Production through enhanced cooperation and coordination of different national and regional research programmes”.

• JKI launches IYPH programme
  

  Germany’s Julius Kühn-Institut (JKI) has identified a range of events it will target to mark the 2020 International Year of Plant Health. In particular, JKI will be driving home the message that the global trade in plants means there is a permanent risk of pests and diseases being introduced into regions where they are not indigenous.

• WUR unveils greenhouse of the future
  

  Wageningen University and Research (WUR) has unveiled a cutting-edge demonstration greenhouse designed to help the Dutch horticultural sector become CO2 neutral by 2040. Not limited simply to energy efficiency, the new greenhouse incorporates innovative measures designed to reduce pesticide and artificial fertiliser use to zero while improving yields.

• Goodbye INRA, hello INRAE
  

  France’s National Institute for Agricultural Research (INRA) is no more. Instead, it has undergone a major merger with the country’s National Institute for Research in Science and Technology for the Environment and Agriculture (IRSTEA). The new organisation is called the National Research Institute for Agriculture, Food and the Environment and will be known by the initials INRAE.

• Big update for CROPROTECT application
  

  Rothamsted Research has given a major new update to its free CROPROTECT pest, weed and disease application. As Rothamsted reports, CROPROTECT provides farmers, growers and agronomists with guidance on pest, weed and disease management, especially in situations where effective pesticides are not available and alternative approaches are required.