SCRI pesticide reduction project

The desire for less pesticide residue on crops and a reduction in the types of agro-chemicals available to farmers after recent EU legislation is being addressed by new research project at the Scottish Crop Research Institute.

SCRI is one of the partners in the European Union pesticide use and risk reduction project (Pure) which aims to develop integrated pest and disease management techniques for major EU crops.

Pure is the biggest agricultural research project funded by the EU with a total value of €12 million. As part of the project, SCRI will receive 600,000 funding over four years that will create several new jobs.

The main crops researched will be wheat, maize, field vegetables and top fruit as well as "protected" vegetables grown under polytunnels.

The project consortium includes a range of top research and industry partners from across Europe.

SCRI will contribute to several areas of work covering conservation of beneficial insects, landscape engineering, and also novel ways to increase plant defences using elicitors. But the institute, based at Invergowrie, will also be a test site for new IPDM strategies in wheat and brassica production systems.

Dr Graham Begg, of SCRI's environment plant interactions programme, who will lead research into the role of ecological engineering in IPDM, said that, with the reduction in available pesticides, growers would have to look to more innovative methods of managing crops and the Pure project would support that move.