PROJECT DESCRIPTION
BACKGROUND
The EU is acutely challenged by the lack of effective and sustainable agricultural pest control strategies. As a result, growers continue to depend on chemical intensive pest control protocols. While the EU intends to transition away from excessive usage of agrochemicals and widely adopt environmentally safe farming (farm2fork strategy), plant-based formulations and well-established control strategies to tackle pest/disease outbreaks are limited. This challenge is even more amplified in fruit crops such as Grapevine. Grapevine is highly susceptible to fungal diseases, mainly Downy Mildew (DM) and Grapevine Trunk Disease (GTD) that depend on Copper (Cu) intensive molecules for control often resulting in deposition of excess Cu in soil and potentially fruit tissues. Our aim is to reduce the environmental impact of pest control in vineyards by introducing breakthrough, mineral-based, natural Plant Protection Products (PPPs) for disease control and circular approaches to effectively handle the vineyard biomass. We will transform the ecosystem of crop protection in grapevines by launching first-of-its-kind, sustainable PPP formulations that cost-effectively and efficiently tackle DM and GTD. While the novel PPPs will disrupt the existing DM control products market, for GTD, our PPPs will be ground-breaking as there are no commercial control methods available yet. NATURA AGRO will contribute to the following specific impacts. - Reduction in soil accumulation of copper by 75% by the end of 2028 and 90% by 2031 - Our circular approaches will reduce the inappropriately handled biomass by 70% by 2028 and 90% by 2031. - Reduced emission of GHGs (CO2 equivalents) by 60% by 2028, further reducing to 85% by 2031. Our well-rounded approach involving winegrowers will unveil relevant, abiding disease control strategies that also resolve the socio-economic acceptance, adoption potential and replicability of our solution across many crops and the whole of the EU.