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The future of plant protection research in AGRO

Succession and less political attention have created concerns about the future of our research in plant protection, what will the future bring? We also need more focus on innovation in plant production and sustainable food production in the future.

[Translate to English:] Foto: Per Kudsk

In August, a meeting was held in Flakkebjerg on the future of plant protection research at AGRO. The meeting had been arranged at the instigation of some of the "younger" employees in CROP, who are worried about what their future prospects are. The reason is partly that the all-dominating climate agenda has removed political focus from pesticides and pesticide use, which is also reflected in the possibilities for research grants, and partly that we in Flakkebjerg are facing a major succession in the coming years. In addition to the employees in Flakkebjerg, who have plant protection research as their core area, Jørgen E. Olesen also participated in the meeting.

Plant protection continues as the core area

There was a good discussion at the meeting, and it was stated that research in plant protection will continue to be a core activity at AGRO in the future. In Denmark, the discussion about pesticides may take up less space than before, but in the EU's Farm to Fork strategy, a reduction in the use of pesticides and the associated risks are still of high priority. This is also reflected in the current Horizon Europe call. It is important that we pursue the opportunities it provides for new projects.

But in Denmark, the focus on pesticide use is increasingly low. Negotiations on the new pesticide strategy are expected to be completed by the end of the year. However, the funds that will be allocated here are small compared to the funds that are being allocated to the climate plan for agriculture, and research is not a high priority.

We have to rethink the plant production of the future

Another topic at the meeting was that AGRO should have an ambition to help set the course for future plant production. We have been really good at providing research and other inputs to regulate existing plant production, but it is not enough to address the challenges facing agriculture. 

There is a need to rethink agricultural production, including in particular plant production, so that the industry can meet the objectives set for climate impact, nutrient loss, and pesticide use. In countries such as France, the Netherlands, and Belgium activities have been initiated to rethink plant production. Take e.g. Farming of the Future in the Netherlands, where a number of platforms have been established, including an area of ??105 ha in Lelystad. Here, new and innovative cultivation methods and systems are investigated. A similar set-up at AGRO will not only be a good starting point for research applications, it will also be able to be used for smaller student projects. A clearer profile on sustainable food production, as such an initiative would be, could perhaps also attract more students to our programs.

GRAIN / CBOL creates new opportunities but too slowly

The AU board's decision to establish GRAIN / CBOL (Center for Sustainable Transformation of Agriculture) has created the external framework for taking similar initiatives as in e.g. the Netherlands, but unfortunately so far very little has happened regarding GRAIN / CBOL. The desire to ensure a broad participation of Danish universities has apparently blocked the discussion of specific activities. In parallel with this development, KU (Copenhagen University), who decided not to participate in GRAIN / CBOL, is promoting their Green Solution Center. We need to be able to do this better in AU, and a good way to kickstart GRAIN / CBOL would be to focus on the first link in the chain, namely primary production, where we at AGRO and ANIS are better equipped than any other university to take on this task.