Toward a reduced use of pesticides in European farming systems: An introduction to the PURE project
Résumé
PURE (Pesticide Use-and-risk Reduction in European farming systems with Integrated Pest Management),
a large collaborative project funded by the EU, has designed and tested IPM solutions both onstation
and on-farm. Ex-ante and ex-post assessment of such solutions e developed by combining
tactical and strategic means of managing pests (animal pests, pathogens and weeds) e were performed
for key European farming systems, spanning from annual arable to protected crops. Overall, the solutions
showed good sustainability. PURE also developed models and methods to help predict pest damage or
design pest management strategies. In addition, the project developed tactics to deal with pest evolution,
agroecological engineering, and eventually bio- and technological products to be included into IPM
toolbox in the near future. The societal dimension, the interdisciplinarity and a wide geographic coverage
are key features of the project.