The University of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine of Bucharest (USAMVB) is part of the SUPPORT project, with a funding of over €5.99 million, of which our team has €109,063 available, for the implementation of activities. The project is funded by the Horizon Europe program, HORIZON-CL6-2022-FARM2FORK-01 and includes 20 partners from 10 European countries, to achieve the objectives aimed at the adoption of Integrated Pest Management (IPM) tools and technologies, food security, sustainable agricultural production, healthier environment and clean food.
This project is part of the USAMVB’s sustainable development strategy of promoting a knowledge-based and innovative, greener and more competitive economy that ensures stable, residue-free food security and safety systems, environmental protection and conservation, more effective landscape management and biodiversity conservation.
The UPPORT project develops relevant and practical knowledge that can be found in the design and co-design of tools with public policy actors in the field of plant protection and private sector strategies for a more effective implementation of IPM principles on farms in Europe.
By organizing the project in six work packages and with a consortium containing all the necessary knowledge and experience, including academia and higher education, SMEs, farmer organizations and cooperatives, as well as public bodies, the SUPPORT project will investigate which IPM tools and practices cannot be scaled up in this situation.
To effectively prevent and control pests and thus ensure crop yields, plant protection products play an important role in agriculture and in the management of food production. However, existing crop protection strategies rely heavily on the use of chemical pesticides that may contain hazardous substances and pose risks to human health, biodiversity and the environment. Therefore, there is a great need to reduce pesticide use and agricultural producers’ dependence on chemical pesticide use, without reducing food production, farm profitability, and the provision of other ecosystem services.
Crop Clusters (NCC), Community of Practices (CoP), Networks of Practices (NoP)
The SUPPORT project will inventory, systematize and compare a series of existing and relevant data on IPM tools for 25 target crops (National Crop Clusters), specific to each country, taking into account their importance at the level of each partner country, the diversity in the use of IPM techniques, the very different production methods and the unique sustainability challenges.
The National Crop Clusters (NCC) include: wheat, maize, onion, potato, strawberry, apple, wine grapes and olives. The USAMVB team, together with another partner from Romania, the Forum of Professional Farmers and Processors of Romania (FAPPR), are responsible for the data provided for wheat and maize crops.
The Community of Practice (CoP) has the role of analyzing, discussing and jointly creating with relevant stakeholders (farmers, decision-makers, authorities, researchers, consumers) future strategies and policies to improve the adoption of Integrated Pest Management tools and technologies for the development and implementation of a harmonized approach at EU level.
The Network of Practice (NoP) is a global platform connecting all stakeholders and will be used to communicate, discuss and disseminate the results of the SUPPORT project with the entire EU stakeholder community.
SUPPORT in Romania
The role of the USAMVB team will focus on creating an Inventory of current and future Integrated Pest Management (IPM) tools for wheat and maize crops, assessing their impact on the effectiveness of pest control, farm economic performance and agricultural production growth. At the same time, during the project, barriers and opportunities will be identified throughout the agri-food system for the adoption of IPM and their role in the decision-making process of farmers will be analyzed. As a result, popularizing, raising awareness of the need and importance of a wider adoption of more environmentally friendly Integrated Pest Management tools in Romania can constitute viable solutions in the context of supporting quality agricultural production, but also in sufficient quantity, given the growing need for clean food for the population.
Sustainability and Food Security
Environmental sustainability and food security are supported in this project by including both farmers (including smallholders), value chain partners and consumers in the process of co-creating new pathways for the adoption of IPM tools and technologies. The approach of the supporting project raises awareness among value chain partners and consumers about the efforts that farmers have to make to produce quality food.
This approach can be the beginning of a cascading effect that can encourage more farmers, value chain partners and consumers to change their practices to improve the sustainability of food production and consumption. In this way, there will be opportunities to empower communities to create thriving businesses, bringing together established interests and new stakeholders.
Coordination and partners
The project coordinator is Bos Florien – Stichting Wageningen Research of Wageningen (WR), NETHERLANDS.
Partners of project
- Toader Maria – University of Agronomic Sciences and Veterinary Medicine of Bucharest (USAMVB) – ROMANIA
- Per Kudsk – Aarhus University (AU) – DENMARK
- Daniel Traon – Arcadia International E.E.I.G. (ARCADIA) – BELGIUM
- Lehnhardt Fatima – Leibniz-Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research (ZALF) – GERMANY
- Acosta Alejandra – Wageningen University – NETHERLANDS
- Cuesta Arenas Yaite – Southern Agricultural and Horticultural Organisation (ZLTO) – NETHERLANDS
- Hingst Ole – Julius Kühn Institute (JKI) – GERMANY
- Alberto Sturla – Council for Agricultural Research and Analysis of Agricultural Economics (CREA) – ITALY
- Spiros Fountas – Agricultural University of Athens (AUA) – GREECE
- Tommasini Maria Grazia – Ri.Nova Cooperative Society RI.NOVA (RINOVA) – ITALY
- Juan Sagarna – Agro-food Cooperatives of Spain, (Spanish CO-OPS) – SPAIN
- Cristina Cionga – Romanian Professional Farmers and Processors Forum (FAPPR)– ROMANIA
- Thorup Anne Cathrine S. – SEGES Innovation (SEGES) – DENMARK
- Vicky Inglezou – Cooperative of Certified Agricultural Products of the Municipality of Nestor, Messinia (NILEAS) – GREECE
- Rzeznicki Slawomir – Horticultural Cooperative in Grójec (SOG) – POLAND
- Joanna Puławska – Institute of Horticulture – National Research Institute (IN-HORT) – POLAND
- Boguszewska-Mańkowska Dominika – Plant Breeding and Acclimatization Institute – National Research Institute (HAR-PIB) – POLAND
- Wauters Erwin – Flanders Research Institute for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (ILVO) – BELGIUM
- Robert Finger – Agricultural Economics and Policy Group (ETH) – SWITZERLAND
More information about the project is available here: https://he-support.eu/
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