University of Coimbra coordinates international project focused on the agro-ecological management of weeds and pests
The GOOD project, coordinated by Helena Freitas, Professor at FCTUC's Life Sciences Department, has just secured €5 million in funding.
English version: Diana Taborda
The international project GOOD aims to promote agroecological approaches for the management of weeds and pests in Europe. The project is coordinated by Helena Freitas, full professor at the Department of Life Sciences of the Faculty of Sciences and Technology of the University of Coimbra and has just been granted a funding of 5 million euros in the scope of the European Commission Horizon 2020 Programme.
"By implementing a multidisciplinary approach, Agroecology for Weeds - GOOD aims to create, implement and evaluate Agroecological Weed Management practices, systems and protocols and demonstrate, under real conditions, how the adoption of this management can strongly reduce the use of synthetic herbicides, increase the sustainability, productivity and resilience of agricultural systems," explains the coordinator of the project, which involves more than a dozen European countries.
The current agricultural systems of the European Union (EU) are facing growing challenges of sustainability and productivity due to the impact of climate change throughout the agri-food value chain, aggravated by the negative effects of the Covid-19 pandemic and, more recently, by geopolitical instabilities. These "are two factors that threaten the stability of the agricultural sector and clearly underline the need for change in the European agricultural outlook/agenda", states Freitas.
"According to the new proposal on the sustainable use of pesticides, the focus should be directed towards promoting the adoption of alternative weed control methods," says the researcher, adding that in doing so, "a strong initiative is being established for the first time to achieve the European Commission's (EC) ambitious goals with legally binding targets for pesticide reduction in the EU."
With an expected duration of four years, this project will develop an Agroecological Network comprising an ecosystem of 16 Living Labs (LLs), with the purpose of improving knowledge co-creation, farmer decision - making and end-user uptake of approaches. This management network will be both a physical network of LLs, allowing users and partners to share knowledge and experiences, and a digital network of all relevant actors across the agri-food value chain, creating links with other projects and networks operating in the field of Agroecology and Pest Management.
Coordinated by the Centre for Functional Ecology of FCTUC, GOOD also involves France, Spain, Italy, Greece, Ireland, Belgium, Latvia, The Netherlands, Serbia and Cyprus.