European Innovation Partnership – Plant Health

Between 2018 and 2021, in Pays de la Loire region (north-west of France), a network of regional partners from different plant sectors worked together within the European Innovation Partnership (EIP) “Plant Health” project, with the support of the Pays de la Loire Region Council and the European Commission. In total, nine thematic operational groups, associating producers, economic actors and R&D actors have worked, based on case studies, to identify new measures to improve plant health and validate their feasibility. Main themes addressed alternatives to plant protection products, with a focus on bridges between sectors (Is a solution or technique available in one sector easily transferable to another?), soil cover for weed management (Are mulching and direct seeding in a cover crop new practices to be mobilized?), and diversification of crop rotation and structuring of supply chains, with both technical questions (mastering a new crop, sorting out associations) and structural questions (which organizations, relationships between actors, etc.). After 4 years of work and despite the COVID-19 sanitary crisis, which slowed down some parts of the project, each operational group has been able to draw conclusions from the results obtained.