Diversifying crop protection

Latest news

• Candidates sought for agroecology summer school
  

  Candidates for the fourth International Summer School in Agroecology (ISSAE), being held at the Ecole Nationale de Formation Agronomique in Toulouse, south-west France, have until May 30 to complete their application.

• Priority IPM research needs identified
  

  A European team of Integrated Pest Management (IPM) experts has completed a preliminary analysis of the most urgent research and extension needs for accelerating the development of IPM across the European Union.

• Review: Non-chemical weed control in arable crops
  

  A pan-European group of weed specialists has examined the possibilities for using non-chemical methods for weed control in reduced tillage arable systems. The review covers the redesigning of cropping systems, cover crops, stubble management strategies, tactics to strengthen crop growth relative to weed growth and direct mechanical weed control methods. Lead author Bo Melander, of Denmark’s Aarhus University, explains more:

• Advisers test learning approaches
  

  In the quest to provide agricultural advisers with new tools to accompany a reduction in pesticide use, the New Advisers project has tested three learning approaches in eight European countries. The results of these trials are now being analysed and, eventually, instructional manuals and videos will be produced to encourage their wider use.

• Meeting: Induced resistance in plants
  

  Making the leap from success in the laboratory to success in the field will be the theme of the sixth meeting of the IOBC’s ‘Induced resistance in plants against insects and diseases’ working group.

• INRA holds international Fusarium seminar
  

  INRA's Mycology and Food Safety research unit is organising the 12th European Fusarium Seminar to be held in Bordeaux May 12-16, 2013. The conference brings together researchers, breeders, industry representatives, and policy makers concerned by Fusarium diseases and the reduction of mycotoxins in cereals. It provides an international forum to address the current state of the art in Fusarium biology and crop resistance breeding.

• New site supports French NAP
  

  The French Ministry of Agriculture has launched a website dedicated to bringing together references and knowledge on Integrated Pest Management (IPM) in order to help educate farmers, advisers and trainers.

• ENDURE foresight study goes global
  

  The work of ENDURE’s foresight study team has been presented to the Global Forum on Agricultural Research (GFAR) as part of GFAR’s effort to produce a global report on foresight for impact.

• Update from ENDURE task leader Per Kudsk
  

  In the coming days all European Union Member States are supposed to hand in their National Action Plan (NAP) to the EU Commission to meet the deadline of December 14, 2012 stipulated in Directive 2009/128, writes Per Kudsk, one of ENDURE’s task leaders. The NAPs should contain an outline of targets, including quantitative targets if Member States adopt them, measures and timetables to reduce risks and impacts of pesticide use on human health and the environment.

• Summer School: Agroecology and IPM
  

  Exploring the extent to which agroecology could be used for crop protection on European farms was the task set for the fourth ENDURE Summer School, which brought together 12 PhD students and five expert teachers for a five-day course in Italy.