Kick-off meeting

(Kleinmachnow) The main goal of the EC Farm-to-Fork Strategy is to reduce the overall use and risk of pesticides by 50 per cent by 2030. The Horizon Europe project ‘FORTUNA – Future Innovation for Pesticide Use Reduction in Agriculture’ is a three-year initiative that seeks to identify knowledge gaps and challenges in plant protection beyond 2030, highlighting the need for further research. The project will analyse the results of ongoing or completed national and European projects and applied research.

The eleven FORTUNA partner organisations, together with stakeholders from the farming community and the value chain, will collect successful methods and strategies that have already been proven to reduce pesticide use and risks.

Silke Dachbrodt-Saaydeh from the Julius Kühn-Institute (JKI), who leads the FORTUNA project, explains that the participating scientists will identify both drivers and barriers through biological-ecological, technological, and socio-economic assessments. The JKI scientist explains that in addition to the reduction potential, the consortium is also analysing which adjustments to cropping systems are necessary for the methods to be effective in agro-ecological farming concepts and to promote biodiversity. The researchers will also be taking into account the challenges of climate change in the adaptation of farming systems. Based on the findings, future research needs will be identified and the strategic research and innovation agenda will be developed until 2026.

The FORTUNA consortium, led by the Institute for Strategies and Technology Assessment at the Julius Kühn-Institute, comprises eleven research institutions from nine European countries and Switzerland. The kick-off meeting was held on 6-7 February 2024 at the JKI Institute for Strategies and Technology Assessment in Kleinmachnow.