Instytut Ochrony Roślin - Państwowy Instytut Badawczy

Project title: Guideline for farm-specific rules or crop-specific for mitigating pesticide impacts while ensuring sustainable agriculture

Acronym: LIFE23-PRE-FR-AGROWISE

Programme: LIFE-2023-PLP

Project period: 01.05.2024 – 31.10.2025

Agreement: GRANT AGREEMENT Project 101148740  —  LIFE23-PRE-FR-AGROWISE from 12.07.2024

Coordinator: Maud Blanck (INRAE)

Coordinator from IPP - NRI: prof. Jolanta Kowalska

Consortium:

- Croatia:

Sveuciliste U Zagrebu Agronomski Fakultet (UNIZGFAZ), Zagreb

- France:

Institut Nationale de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement (INRAE), Paris (Leader)

- Germany:

·         Julius Kuhn-Institut Bundesforschunginstitut fur Kulturpflanzen (JKI), Quedlinburg

·         Leibniz-Zentrum Fuer Agrarlandschaftsforchung (ZALF), Muencheber

- Ireland:

Agriculture and Food Development Authority (Teagasc), Carlow

- Italy:

Alma Mater Studiorum – Universita di Bologna (Unibo), Bologne

- Poland:

·         Instytut Ogrodnictwa – Państwowy Instytut Badawczy (InHort), Skierniewice

·         Instytut Ochrony Roślin – Państwowy Instytut Badawczy (IOR - PIB), Poznań

- Romania:

Universitatea di Stiinte Agronomice Si Medicina Veterinara Din Bucuresti (USAMV), Bucarest

- Sweden:

Sveriges Lantbruksuniversitet – Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU), Uppsala

 

What is Agrowise?

The Agrowise project is a part of the "LIFE Program" with the objective of providing guidelines to each member state for implementing the Sustainable Use Directive (SUD) rules at the farm or crop- specific level. This project takes part in the "Farm to Fork strategy" which aims to achieve a 50% reduction in chemical pesticide use by 2030.

Led by the French Institute "INRAE", this eighteen-month project brings together research organizations from 8 European countries. The project will collect, harmonize, and propose scientifically-backed methods and strategies to reduce pesticide use and risks for various crops. The guidelines will promote innovative approaches to crop protection by limiting the use of chemical pesticides and following Integrated Pest Management (IPM) principles.

NEWS

• June 2024: the INRAE team went to Poland to meet the team members of each institute that is part of the Agrowise consortium:  Instytut Ogrodnictwa - Państwowy Instytut Badawczy (InHort)  in Skierniewice and  Instytut Ochrony Roślin - Państwowy Instytut Badawczy (IOR-PIB) in Poznań . This travel allowed discussions to take place concerning the expectations of each party in terms of expected and available data, assistance on any aspect of the research and results. Touring each institute and their research fields allowed the INRAE team to have a clearer idea of what is the scope of the data available in Poland and to set up a schedule for the future actions, in particular the task 5.3 for which InHort is in charge, finally, to know the state of the IPM principles in Poland.
• July 2024: online meeting between the INRAE team and various experts (group 5.2) in order to define a framework and the objective of our  collaboration as well as the calendar of the future meetings. The reason of this working group is to co-create guidelines that are one of the key deliverables of the project.
• August 2024: online interview with each member of the former SUD group (group 5.1) to prepare the September meeting that will take place in Brussels.
• September 2024: the INRAE team will go to Brussels to meet the science experts group and the group of Member States representatives.

Work Packages and deliverables

• Work Package 1: 
• WP coordinator: INRAE
  • Milestone : Creation of the Steering Group (INRAE; June 2024)
  • Deliverable 1.1 : Communication and Dissemination Strategy (INRAE; October 2024)
  • Deliverable 1.2 : Project Web Pages (INRAE; October 2024)
  • Deliverable 1.3 : Data Management (JKI ; October 2024)

This work package will aim to ensure the success of the project by creating an efficient coordination amongst all the members of the consortium. To achieve this, we will implement regular communication channels, decision-making mechanisms and risk management plans. Monthly meeting will be held to track progress, and a steering committee will be responsible for prioritizing partners involvement.

The steering committee will consist of the coordinators of each work packages, of the project coordinator and a representative of each partners.

The data management activities will work towards developing a comprehensive plan to establish organized structures and efficient workflows for future data management.

• Work Package 2 :
• WP coordinator: SLU
  • Deliverable 2.1 : Harmonised taxonomy of the innovative practices and systems (SLU; October 2024)
  • Deliverable 2.2: Standardised metric(s) pesticide reduction quantification (INRAE; October 2024)
  • Deliverable 2.3: Complete taxonomy with metadata and pesticide reduction volume and evaluated impacts (SLU; August 2025)

This WP is dedicated to the improvement and harmonization of the IMP toolbox through the evaluation of the best practices (https://datam.jrc.ec.europa.eu/datam/mashup/IPM_BEST_PRACTICES/). The scope of this work includes the establishment of metrics for pesticides reduction, incorporation of innovative practices from diverse sources, and development of a comprehensive taxonomy. The primary objective is to equip farmers with precise and effective guidelines for sustainable pest management.

• Work Package 3:
• WP coordinator: UniBo
  • Milestone: Availability of economic database (Teagasc; August 2024)
  • Deliverable 3.1: Actual and potential implementation of the available IPM, agroecology-based practices and systems across Europe (UniBo; April 2025)
  • Deliverable 3.2: Economic impacts of implementation of practices and systems (Teagasc; July 2025)
  • Deliverable 3.3: Context dependency of the implementation of the practices and systems (ZALF; August 2025)

The WP seeks to examine the implementation of the IPM practices and systems within the member states. The objective includes measuring pesticide usage, evaluating its environmental consequences, recognizing required and discretionary practices, and assessing the oversight mechanisms currently in place.

• Work Package 4 :
• WP coordinator: Teagasc
  • Milestone: Completion of Mechanisms Compilation and Documentation (Teagasc; September 2024)
  • Deliverable 4.1: Report of the analysis of the Strengths and Weaknesses of the policy instruments (Teagasc; April 2025)
  • Deliverable 4.2: Guideline framework for Member States to support the generation of Farm-Specific Rules for Targeted Stakeholders (Teagasc; September 2025)

This WP focuses on the development of tools and mechanisms to provide farm-specific or crop-specific tailored regulation. Through a comprehensive analysis of current practices, policies, and frameworks, guidelines will be created to facilitate the implementation of efficient and flexible rules. Close cooperation with national authorities and stakeholders is key to achieve our objectives.

• Work Package 5 : 
• WP coordinator: INRAE
  • Milestone I: Identification of the group of experts from all Member States (INRAE; June 2024)
  • Milestone II: Completion of the list of stakeholders (InHort; January 2025)
  • Deliverable 5.1: Report of the coverage of all the plant production and supply chains in the definition of the binding and optional rules (INRAE; July 2025)
  • Deliverable 5.2: Report of the possibilities to consider the diversity of agro-climatic conditions in the definition of the binding and optional rules (INRAE; September 2025)
  • Deliverable 5.3: Report of the contribution of the stakeholders to recommendations (INRAE; August 2025)

This work package is dedicated to the dissemination of knowledge and resources to the member states and relevant authorities. A collaborative methodology will be applied, engaging national authorities in the development of both mandatory and discretionary regulations. Valuable input will also be gathered from stakeholders, such as agricultural organizations and industries, in order to guarantee thorough and satisfactory guidance.

• Work Package 6 :
• WP coordinator: INRAE
  • Deliverable 6.1: Guidelines for the European Commission to evaluate Member States’ Plans in Achieving SUD objectives (INRAE; October 2025)
  • Deliverable 6.2: Final Integrated Pest Management Guidelines (INRAE; October 2025)
  • Deliverable 6.3: Primary Dissemination Tools (INRAE; October 2025)

The work package consists of the dissemination of the project. To achieve this, we will: 

• Examine the newly established Integrated Pest Management (IPM) regulations proposed by the consortium members for collective implementation by all Member States. 
•  Finalize the drafting of comprehensive guidelines for the European Commission to assess the effectiveness of "National Plans of Action" in alignment with the goals of the Sustainable Use of Pesticides Directive, the Farm to Fork strategy, and the Green Deal initiative. 
• Develop a cohesive document outlining and presenting these guidelines to educate Member States and engage experts' networks involved in national planning efforts.

 

 

Project website: https://eng-agrowise.hub.inrae.fr/