Global Plant Protection News

Welcome to the 30th edition of ENDURE News, the electronic newsletter from ENDURE. Please feel free to share this newsletter with colleagues.

• IYPH 2020: Share your plant health story!
  Organisers of the International Year of Plant Health 2020 are on the hunt for human interest stories concerning plant health. In particular, they are seeking stories that show how someone has contributed to plant health (farmer, public or private sector employee, student etc.), the damage caused by plant pests and diseases, and how plant health can help end hunger, reduce poverty, protect the environment or boost economic development.
• IYPH 2020: Conference to be a key event
  One of the key events of the International Year of Plant Health 2020 will be the first International Plant Health Conference. The event, addressing the theme of ‘Protecting Plant Health in a Changing World’, is being hosted by the government of Finland and will run from October 5 to 8, 2020, at the Paasitorni Conference Centre in Helsinki.
• Glyphosate warning for blackgrass
  Researchers at Rothamsted Research, one of ENDURE’s UK partners, have uncovered early signs of glyphosate resistance in blackgrass, one of the country’s most harmful weeds in autumn-sown crops. The news is particularly significant as glyphosate is one of the ‘last lines of defence’ against a weed that has already developed multiple herbicide resistance.
• Country profile: Lithuania
  In the latest of our country profiles, Ilma Rimkeviciene, from the PI Lithuanian Agricultural Advisory Service, introduces us to the integrated plant protection information, consulting and training information service the country has introduced as part of its drive towards more sustainable agriculture.
• Diversification cluster goes live!
  A new website has been launched by the six Horizon 2020 projects working together in the Crop Diversification Cluster. ReMIX, one of the projects involved, reports: “Projects within the cluster are collaborating to increase the impact of crop diversification research and encourage sustained uptake of diversification measures by farmers in Europe through innovations across the agri-value chain.”
• Agroecology: nature-based ‘win-win’ model
  Researchers from two of France’s leading research institutes have demonstrated for the first time that bee pollination outstrips pesticide use in the yield and profitability of oilseed rape crops. “This new study suggests that agroecology, which promotes nature-based solutions for agricultural production, can be an alternative ‘win-win’ model that ensures agricultural production, incomes for farmers, and environmental protection,” says INRA.
• IPM lessons from EUCLID
  The four-year EUCLID project (Europe-China Lever for Integrated Pest Management Demonstration) has now drawn to a close, with its main results shared with various key recipients over the course of two days of meetings at the University of Avignon in France.
• Weed diversity for mitigating yield losses
  Experts from ENDURE partners in France and Italy have pooled forces to analyse the effects of weed communities on crop yields, revealing that not all communities engender yield losses even when no weeding takes place. Furthermore, they say, there is a link between high weed diversity and a reduced risk of major crop losses.
• Aiming for zero pesticides in arable crops
  EcophytoPIC, France’s Integrated Pest Management (IPM) portal, has drawn together details of the experimental work conducted as part of the country’s Rés0Pest network. The Rés0Pest experimental network aims to produce new references and knowledge for designing innovative cropping systems that are less reliant on pesticides, using IPM principles and combining different techniques to limit pest damage in arable crops.
• Catch up with DiverIMPACTS
  DiverIMPACTS has produced its fifth newsletter, providing readers with the opportunity to catch up with a busy six months for the project, which is striving “to achieve the full diversification potential of cropping systems for improved productivity, delivery of ecosystem services and resource-efficient and sustainable value chains”.
• Genome advances in grapevine and potato
  Two of ENDURE’s partners have reported significant advances in exploring the genomes of important crops which could help lead to the creation of more disease-resistant varieties. France’s INRA (National Institute for Agricultural Research) and its partners have published the first genome sequence of a grapevine rootstock while WUR (Wageningen University & Research) in the Netherlands, working with scale-up Solynta, has published the most complete genome sequence for potatoes to date.
• IHAR organising 2020 potato event
  ENDURE’s Polish partner, the Plant Breeding and Acclimatization Institute – National Research Institute (IHAR-PIB), is the chief organiser of the 21st Triennial Conference of the European Association for Potato Research (EAPR), which will be held from July 6 to July 10, 2020, in Poland’s capital city of Warsaw.
• 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.
• CDC: Read the flyer!
  Europe’s Crop Diversification Cluster has produced a flyer explaining how they are joining forces to help change European agriculture. The cluster brings together six European projects (and partners further afield) addressing multiple facets of crop diversification, including the introduction of species mixtures, innovative plant teams and encouraging legume-based systems.
• Call for papers for 2020 pest events
  Calls for papers have been issued for two events scheduled for Montpellier SupAgro in southern France in October 2020. First up is the international conference organised once every three years by the pests and beneficials committee of Végéphyl, France’s plant health association.
• September 2020 date for biocontrol group
  The International Organization for Biological and Integrated Control West Palearctic Regional Section (IOBC-WPRS) is staging the 16th meeting of its Biological and Integrated Control of Plant Pathogens working group in 2020. Running from September 14 to 17, 2020, the event is being held at Poland’s University of Gdansk.
• Success and failure in diversification
  Researchers examining the factors affecting the success or failure of diversification experiences in agriculture have compiled a database using 128 validated responses from a survey across 12 European countries.
• Potato experts issue blight recommendations
  EuroBlight, the network working on early and late blight in potato crops, has issued a series of recommendations to optimise disease control. It follows the 17th EuroBlight workshop held earlier this year, an event which attracted 110 scientists and industry stakeholders from 22 countries, including representatives from similar networks in North America, Latin America, Asia and Africa.
• Conference to focus on mycotoxin management
  The MycoKey Horizon 2020 project is to stage an international conference in 2020. Addressing ‘Integrated and innovative key actions for mycotoxin management in the food and feed chain’, the event is being held in Bari, Italy, from March 9 to 12, 2020, and is being organised together with the 2nd International Forum on Mycotoxins in Animal Production and with the participation of the MyToolBox project.
• To find out more about ENDURE, visit: www.endure-network.eu

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