Alternatives to synthetic pesticides: 24 European research organizations have signed up

Institutional news 24 February 2020
CIRAD is one of the signatories of the declaration of intent "Towards a Chemical Pesticide-free Agriculture" formalized by 24 European research organizations at the Paris International Agricultural Show on 23 February . The declaration was driven by INRAE (France) and its German counterparts ZALF and JKI, and intends to pool research efforts aimed at accelerating the agroecological transition in Europe. CIRAD will be contributing as regards the issue in the ultraperipheral regions, particularly the French overseas regions, where it has already been working on the topic for several years.
Alternatives to synthetic pesticides: 24 European research organizations have signed up to an ambitious roadmap © INRAE - Christophe Maître
Alternatives to synthetic pesticides: 24 European research organizations have signed up to an ambitious roadmap © INRAE - Christophe Maître

Alternatives to synthetic pesticides: 24 European research organizations have signed up to an ambitious roadmap © INRAE - Christophe Maître

Through a joint declaration, "Towards a Chemical Pesticide-free Agriculture", 24 research organizations in 16 countries have committed to work together to find alternatives to the use of synthetic pesticides in Europe and to support public policy.

Driven by INRAE (France) and its German counterparts ZALF and JKI, this unprecedented undertaking will mobilize an entire research community around a shared vision of a synthetic pesticide-free agriculture. The declaration, formalized at the Paris International Agricultural Show on 23 February, with the support of the French Ministries of Agriculture and of Research and in the presence of Amélie de Montchalin, Secretary of State for European Affairs, cements the establishment of a European research alliance, aiming to build a roadmap for presentation to the European Commission, as a contribution to the European Green Deal.

Through their network, the 24 signatory organizations have already identified numerous common research avenues, including:

  • making better use of agroecological principles to develop disease-resistant production systems,
  • exploiting the high potential of plant selection,
  • developing the use of new technologies and agro-equipment,
  • understanding the levers and obstacles of the socio-economic transition.

The roadmap being devised calls into question current research methods by integrating systemic and multidisciplinary approaches, which CIRAD already strives to use. The new methods must reinforce the links between the production of knowledge and the experimentation process, both in the lab and in the field. The goal is an open science system, with close links to the world of agriculture to ensure that changes are implemented promptly, sharing work and results widely, encompassing all types of agriculture and the whole range of climates and soils in order to test alternative solutions on a larger scale.

The signatories

  1. Aarhus University, Denmark
  2. Agricultural Academy, Bulgaria
  3. Agricultural University of Athens, Greece
  4. Agroscope, Switzerland
  5. Alma Mater Studiorum - University of Bologna, Italy
  6. French Agricultural Research Centre for International Development, France
  7. Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Italy
  8. Hungarian Research Institute of Organic Agriculture, Hungary
  9. French National Research Institute for Agriculture, Food and Environment– INRAE, France
  10. Institute of Agriculture and Food Biotechnology – IBPRS, Poland
  11. Julius Kühn-Institut – JKI, Federal Research Centre for Cultivated Plants, Germany
  12. Latvia University of Life Sciences and Technologies, Latvia
  13. Leibniz Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research – ZALF, Germany
  14. National Agriculture Research and Innovation Centre – NAIK, Hungary
  15. Natural Resources Institute Finland – Luke, Finland
  16. Rzeszow University of Technology, Poland
  17. Sant’Anna School of Advanced Studies, Italy
  18. Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences – SLU, Sweden
  19. Szent István University, Hungary
  20. Teagasc - Agriculture and Food Development Authority, Ireland
  21. University of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine - USAMV – Bucharest, Romania
  22. University of Life Sciences in Lublin, Poland
  23. Vytautas Magnus University Agriculture Academy, Lithuania
  24. Zagreb University, Faculty of Agriculture, Croatia