Use, non-use and impact of pesticides in mediterranean countries

An initial assessment of the use and impact of pesticides in NOVATERRA’s target crops, meaning olives and grapevines, in their five primary procuring countries (France, Greece, Italy, Portugal and Spain) has been established at the beginning of the project. The collected data showed substantial disparities between regions, making it difficult to identify a clear trend with distinct arguments. In addition, region-related and time-related climate factors can alter the need for PPPs use, depending on the presence of enemies, pathogens, etc. The report concludes that it would be useful to communicate the ongoing importance of a smart farming platform for accurate monitoring. Higher quality and quantity of PPP use data will also be an accelerator for knowledge dissemination initiatives launched to share good farming practices. This report shows that there is a strong dynamic in this field, with projects taking various shapes at different scales, such as living labs, territorial innovation labs, conference networks, knowledge portals, decision support tools, etc., which all countries in the scope of this report are taking part in. The richness of this ecosystem of projects – which includes NOVATERRA – is an asset that all stakeholders must capitalise on in order to maximise the positive impact on the environment and human health.