Euragri Virtual Conference Event
Hosted by INRAe
October 23, 2024, 10:00 to 12:20
In 2020, 24 research bodies from 16 European countries signed the official creation of a European Alliance Towards a Chemical Pesticide-Free Agriculture in Paris, originating from an initial Franco-German partnership. INRAe and its partners hosted a successful European scientific conference entitled “Towards Pesticide-Free Agriculture” in June 2022 (https://tpfagri2022.colloque.inrae.fr). The aim was to identify the research required to meet the pesticide reduction objectives of the European Green Deal.
The conference highlighted the need for a paradigm shift in research. Achieving the ambition of pesticide-free European agriculture requires a move away from one solution for one pest and exploring new horizons on integrated solutions at the farm, landscape, and food chain levels. Significant changes in research priorities and methods in agronomy, genetics and breeding, biocontrol, machinery, and digital, social, and economic sciences are required.
The Strategic Dialogue on the Future of EU Agriculture, published in early September 2024, brought together various agri-food stakeholders who created a shared vision for food and farming in Europe against polarised views and division. The report outlines several unanimously agreed recommendations that the new EU Commission is considering. One of the Dialogue’s key recommendations is enhancing sustainable farming practices by promoting agrobiodiversity, reducing external inputs such as pesticides, and developing biocontrols.
Against this background, this half-day Euragri virtual conference, hosted by INRAE, is an opportunity to reflect on 2022 outcomes and highlight some projects on pesticide-free agriculture supported by the European Research Alliance.
Planned program:
| 10:00: | Cecile Detang-Dessendre (INRAe) – Welcome and Introduction. |
| 10:10: | Uno Svedin (President of Euragri) – Welcome Address |
| 10:20: | Christian Huyghe (INRAe) – introduction and challenges for the EU Agriculture (from diversification to biocontrol) |
| 10:50: | Ixchel Hernandez Ochoa (University of Bonn) – Co-designing a landscape experiment to investigate diversified cropping systems |
| 11:20: | Riccardo Bommarco (SLU, Uppsala) – Crop rotational diversity and cultural efficiency. |
| 11:50: | Panel discussion moderated by INRAE. |
| 12:20: | Close |
Speaker Profiles:
Cécile Détang-Dessendre
Cécile is Deputy Scientific Director of Agriculture at the INRAe since 2017. She is a member of several expert and scientific committees and has published numerous articles on the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) in French, English, and German. In 2020, she co-edited a reference work on the CAP with Hervé Guyomard: “What agricultural policy tomorrow?” Cécile is well integrated into the European and international scientific community of social science researchers.
Uno Svedin
Uno is a retired Professor from Stockholm University, an associate of the Stockholm Resilience Centre and President of Euragri. During his research career, Uno’s interests encompass systems analysis and thinking approaches, European agriculture research strategy, and sustainability and resilience topics. He represented Euragri as one of the 29 organisations developing the Strategic Dialogue on the Future of EU Agriculture – A Shared Prospect for Farming and Food in Europe, published in September 2024.
Christian Huyghe
Christian is INRAe’s Scientific Director of Agriculture. His career in the organisation began in 1987 with an interest in the genetic improvements of plants. Throughout his career, Christian has strongly promoted interdisciplinary research and innovation, knowledge transfer, and education, which he believes are critical in the challenging transition to delivering Sustainable Food Systems.
Ixchel Hernandez Ochoa
Ixchel’s current research focuses on implementing different spatial crop arrangements and crop diversification that can contribute to more sustainable agriculture by improving resource use efficiency, crop health and yield, biodiversity, and other agroecosystem services. Ixchel and her team apply and further develop an agri-ecosystem simulation model by using the SIMPLACE modelling framework.
Riccardo Bommarco
Riccardo is a professor of Agricultural Entomology at the Department of Ecology at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences. His research interests included insect and plant ecology in agricultural landscapes and how they influence plant protection, pollination, and crop yield. In collaboration with researchers and stakeholders, Riccardo and his group design sustainable cropping systems in a changed climate.