ENDURE’S Information Centre (ENDURE IC) will be tested by advisers at June’s giant Cereals Event 2009 event in the UK, as the web-based system for sharing best practice across Europe nears its final form.
Following the incorporation of ALPS - the German dynamic web application for non-chemical alternatives in crop protection - into the ENDURE IC, advisers at the show will be invited to ‘road test’ the Information Centre at a specially convened workshop. Ahead of the event, we spoke to two of the team behind the ENDURE IC, Herman Schoorlemmer from Wageningen University and Research in the Netherlands and Silke Dachbrodt-Saaydeh from Germany’s Julius Kühn Institute.
QUESTION: For those not familiar with the ENDURE Information Centre (ENDURE IC), what is it?
ANSWER: The ENDURE IC is a dynamic web-application which disseminates information on best practices, IPM measures and non-chemical alternatives in crop protection. ENDURE IC is a central point of reference for extending expert knowledge, recommendations and advice for extension services, advisers, farmers and researchers. Users can search using a combination of crop and pest or disease/region and as a result receive information on IPM measures. All the available IPM measures are tested in the field, cost effective and practical to implement. The aim is to present a quality selection to ENDURE IC users, and enable them to easily search for information which usually is only available in national languages or gives information about very regional practices. Such practices could have the potential for adoption in different regions or reflect very valuable potential for disease or pest control. All the information is scientifically sound and the different levels of their practicability are indicated.
QUESTION: What information is currently available?
ANSWER: Currently there are 100 reports, mainly on potato, and 158 pieces of information about projects. In the coming months documents will be available about crop protection in wheat, pomefruit and potato. Later this year maize, tomato, field vegetables and grapes will be added. ENDURE IC will not offer a complete database of all integrated measures, but offers a European quality selection (European Best Practices) with information validated by experts.
QUESTION: What will be happening next?
ANSWER: The identification of the needs of advisers and their suggestions are very important for the development of ENDURE IC. Therefore a first prototype has been tested by advisers during national and international tests and feedback sessions. This feedback helped us to make choices about the performance of ENDURE IC. It is important that advisers will adopt ENDURE IC. As a result we are stimulating the establishment of the ENDURE Network of Advisors. On June 11 we are organising a workshop with advisers during Cereals 2009 in the UK. During this workshop, advisers from different countries will discuss what they want to learn from each other and how ENDURE IC can support these needs. In addition to the workshop dedicated to advisers, the ENDURE IC will be presented to the wider public on the Rothamsted exhibit at Cereals.
QUESTION: What is ALPS and how does this fit in with ENDURE IC?
ANSWER: ALPS is a German dynamic web-application offering exclusively non-chemical alternatives in plant protection and its database structure was adapted to develop ENDURE ALPS, which now has merged with the ENDURE IC. The idea of providing expert knowledge of non-chemical alternatives in plant protection has been maintained and expert summaries will be available for various crops.
More about Cereals 2009
The Cereals Event 2009 is the leading technical event for the European arable industry, bringing together 23,500 farmers and industry experts over the course of two days. The event is being held on June 10 and 11 near Royston, Hertfordshire, in southern England and includes more than 64 hectares of stands and live demonstrations.
One of the most popular sections of the event are the sown crop plots and this year there will be more than 90 of them presented by 28 different organisations, including ENDURE partner Rothamsted Research. Rothamstead will be tackling some of the biggest challenges facing UK arable farmers, including the new amendments to the 91/414 pesticides legislation. One crop plot area will be examining disease control options without the use of triazoles. It will show how Septoria tritici can be controlled using a range of tactics such as fungicide programmes, varietal choice and fungicide timing.
It will also be demonstrating work it has been doing on determining the effects of climate change on oilseed rape diseases and yields, and details of the research being conducted with wheat breeders to discover which UK varieties are best suited to drought-prone land.
More details are available at www.cerealsevent.co.uk.
Last update: 24/05/2023 - ENDURE © 2009 - Contact ENDURE - Disclaimer