Funding: Horizon Europe, European Union
Coordinator: Julius Kühn-Institut (JKI), Germany
Consortium partners: The FORTUNA project brings together 11 partners from 9 European countries (8 EU + Switzerland)
Duration: January 2024 – December 2026
https://horizon-fortuna.eu/Future innovation for pesticide use reduction in agriculture
Agricultural production largely depends on external inputs both for plant nutrition and crop protection to ensure the production of high-quality products. The cropping systems have also been optimised based on high-yielding varieties, high inputs, and mechanisation developments. Despite the development of agricultural practices, the integration of new technologies by farmers and a demand for integrated pest management implementation, yields have been relatively stable and sales of plant protection products remained almost the same around 350,000 tonnes per year of active substances in the last years. However, cropping systems are continuously based on the availability and efficacy of chemical synthetic pesticides for the control of pests, referring to weeds, diseases, and insect pests. This ensures stable yields but has led to a simplification of cropping systems and the loss of crop and species diversity. Negatively, this has cascading effects contributing to even greater dependence on pesticides and to negative impacts on biodiversity, water quality, and human health. Future resilient cropping systems might benefit from the experiences of organic farming, e.g. longer rotations with high share of legume crops and building on the principles of enhancing agroecosystem health, biodiversity, and above and below ground biological activity.
The FORTUNA project strongly supports to the implementation of the Farm to Fork Strategy (F2F), the EU Biodiversity Strategy for 2030 and the EU climate policy under the European Green Deal by contributing to the reduction of the overall use and risk of chemical pesticides by 50% and reduction in the use of the more hazardous pesticides by 50%.
