A new programme of crop protection work recently agreed in Denmark will include mildew control in onions.
The project, Innovate-IPM, will focus on shaping IPM strategies to improve control partly to satisfy EU targets and partly because fewer fungicide products are available for growers to use anyway.
As well as trialling different alternative products, the research will adapt existing decision-support systems to optimise spray timings and screen for resistant varieties.
“We expect to reduce fungicide use by 50% in the short term and by up to 65% in the longer term, said Thies Marten Heick of Aarhus University’s department of agroecology, who is leading the project.
The EU’s farm to fork initiative introduced in 2020 a legally-binding target on EU members to halve pesticide use by the end of the decade.
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