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RESEARCH PRODUCT

IPMWORKS, a European network of pionneer farmers engaged to demonstrate cost-effective IPM-based strategies with low pesticide use

subject

description

Integrated Pest Management (IPM) is based on a diversity of pest management measures(prevention, non-chemical control, best practices for optimizing pesticide efficiency, etc.).These are combined at the farm level to enable reduced reliance on pesticides, and thereforea decrease in the exposure of the environment and people to pesticides. Rare pioneer farmersthroughout Europe are testing such IPM strategies and are succeeding in achieving goodoutcomes with low pesticide inputs. However the majority of European farmers still relyheavily on pesticides, with major environmental and societal impacts, because most of themhave not adopted a comprehensive, farm-level and holistic IPM strategy so far.IPMWORKS is a network of farms involved in the demonstration of cost-effective IPM-basedstrategies, launched in 2020 within the H2020 European program. The objective of IPMWORKSis to promote the adoption of holistic IPM strategies, based on success stories experienced byfarmers. Farmers joining the network both progress further in the adoption of IPM – throughpeer-to-peer learning, and joint efforts – and demonstrate to other farmers that holistic IPM“works”; i.e. allows a low reliance on pesticides with better pest control, reduced costs andenhanced profitability. IPMWORKS coordinates five existing national networks promoting IPM(DEPHY in France, LEAF in UK, DIPS in Germany, GROEN-AoZ in the Netherland, and PESTIREDin Switzerland), and launched new hubs of farms in regions or sectors where IPM pioneerswere not yet engaged in a relevant network. Advisors coordinating hubs have a major role infacilitating knowledge sharing, coaching farmers to find their own IPM solutions, andorganising local demonstration activities. IPMWORKS stimulates access to the ‘IPM Decisions’platform and provide information on the IPM methods. It collects data for comparing IPMstrategies, and share results and dissemination material through channels widely used byfarmers, broadcasting IPM success stories. It organises training, and produces trainingmaterial, targeting both farmers outside the network and advisory services, in order toprepare for the future dissemination of the peer-to-peer learning approach and the generaladoption of IPM throughout the EU. The final objective is to initiate a general change inagricultural practices throughout Europe, to reach the target of halving pesticide use, asplanned by the Green Deal of the European Commission (Farm to Fork strategy). Thedemonstration of cost-efficiency of IPM is based on data describing the details of croppingsystems and pest management in farms involved in the network. IPMWORKS will also producea range of data of various nature for dissemination and communication purpose (videos offarmers' testimonies, videos of demonstration events, leaflets describing cost-effective IPMbased strategies, etc.). During the ESA conference, the network will be presented, with firstresults about the motivation of IPMWORKS farmers regarding IPM, the level of IPM adoption133when joining the network, the level of pesticide use, and results of self-evaluation made byfarmers regarding the quality of pest control and about economic profitability.