France
February 21, 2007
ENDURE, a European Network of
Excellence, was launched on February 21, 2007 at INRA in
Sophia-Antipolis in the presence of Marion Guillou, President of
INRA, and Tim Hall, Director of
the Agriculture, Forests, Fisheries and Aquaculture Unit at the
European Commission. The aim of this network is to develop crop
protection strategies which are environmentally friendly, more
closely tuned to consumer expectations and compatible with
economically-viable farming systems. ENDURE, coordinated by INRA
and managed by its subsidiary INRA Transfert, has received
European €11.2 million in funding, and will involve more than
130 researchers working in 18 European organisations over the
next four years.
An integrative approach
ENDURE (European Network for the Durable Exploitation of Crop
Protection Strategies) aims to bring together basic and applied
research resources across Europe to promote the development of a
wide diversity of crop protection strategies compatible with
sustainable development.
The network will foster investment in the biology of pathogens,
insect pests and weeds and the creation of varieties with
sustainable resistance, the use of biological control, the
spatial diversification of agricultural ecosystems, the
management of invasive species and the integrated management of
weeds. It will mobilise methods, tools and experience which will
enable the implementation of integrated crop protection systems
less reliant on or requiring lower inputs of plant health
products. Particular emphasis shall be laid on the design of
innovative plant protection systems, evaluated not only in terms
of their agronomic efficacy, environmental impacts and economic
consequences but also consumer perceptions, marketing
strategies, barriers to and drivers of adoption of innovation
and regulatory policies regarding plant health.
Through the pooling of knowledge, equipment and human resources
from leading teams throughout Europe, this network also aims to
create a multi-disciplinary and trans-national joint research
culture. It will cover a wide variety of disciplines (agronomy,
genetics, ecology, economics, sociology) in order to generate
new knowledge, aid in the development of novel technologies and
propose innovative cropping strategies which are essential to
the development of alternatives that are environmentally and
agronomically sustainable as well as economically-viable.
The work by ENDURE aims to foster solutions applicable to a
diversity of crops and production systems across Europe, and to
provide support to the stakeholders that are key to their
implementation.
In conjunction with stakeholders
The network wishes to create and sustain working relationships
with the scientific, industrial, extension and political worlds.
It will supply them with information, identify their
expectations and respond to their needs for knowledge and
expertise so as to enable the emergence of dialogue between
these groups concerning economically, culturally and socially
acceptable solutions.
According to Pierre Ricci, project coordinator, "By pooling the
skills and knowledge available in Europe, ENDURE aims to become
a world leader in the development and implementation of
sustainable control strategies. The aim is to become the prime
point of reference in Europe with respect to crop protection,
not only for actors in industry but also for policy
decision-makers."
For Marion Guillou, President of INRA, "The development of
innovative, competitive and sustainable farming systems is one
of the three research priorities at INRA, together with food and
nutrition, and green chemistry. With 30 research teams from 11
INRA centres across France involved in this network, our
Institute is once more confirming its strong involvement in the
European Research Area." |
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