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We're pleased to share a new SPRINT paper: "Selected farm-level crop protection practices in Europe and Argentina: Opportunities for moving toward sustainable use of pesticides" 👏

đŸ‘©â€đŸ”Ź Authored by Jennifer Mark (Research Institute of Organic Agriculture FiBL), Peter Fantke, and Farshad Soheilifard (DTU - Technical University of Denmark), alongside many others from across Europe and Argentina, the paper highlights key findings on pesticide use and sustainable practices.

📌 Key highlights:

⭐ Analysis of over 1700 pesticide applications across 11 countries, including Europe and Argentina, highlighting differences in pesticide types and their costs.

⭐ The dosages of pesticides applied varied significantly—up to 20 times around the recommended doses—suggesting a need for more precise application strategies.

⭐ Perennial crops, particularly grapes and apples, had the highest pesticide application costs per hectare.

⭐ Non-pesticide approaches such as crop rotation, resistant crop varieties, and decision support systems were identified as effective strategies to reduce pesticide dependency.

⭐ Findings suggest that adopting sustainable practices can help minimise the negative impacts on human and environmental health, supporting informed decision-making for agricultural advisory systems.

📝 The study contributes to understanding pesticide application patterns and supports the development of guidelines aimed at moving towards more sustainable agricultural practices.

Read the full paper by clicking here. 

 

Copy of SPRINT VIDEOS OPENING SLIDES

In our latest video, Philipp MĂ€der, PhD researcher for the SPRINT project, provides an overview of his research about the interactive effects of multiple pesticides on soil microorganisms, glyphosate breakdown, and substrate utilisation. Watch the video by clicking here. 

Read all of our PhD research posters here: https://sprint-h2020.eu/index.php/resources/sprint-summaries/research-posters

Read Philipp's paper, 'Effects of MCPA and difenoconazole on glyphosate degradation and soil microorganisms', here: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0269749124016403?via%3Dihub

 

 

We are pleased to share a recording of our recent 'ask the author' webinar. Our first webinar was presented by Dennis Knuth and Vera Silva of Wageningen University & Research. They shared findings from a recent paper about pesticide residues in organic and conventional agricultural soils across our European case study sites. Watch the video by clicking here, and read the related factsheet here. 

 

 

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On 27th September 2024, Dr Paul Scheepers from SPRINT presented some of the projects results on exposure to pesticides to the European Parliament. The conference was organised by Pesticide Action Network Europe (PAN Europe), MEP Marie Toussaint and MEP Christop Clergeau and was titled “Protecting farm workers and citizens in rural areas against pesticides”.  The goal of the conference was to inform policymakers about the health threats associated with pesticide exposure in rural communities. A video of the conference can be found here