AdvisoryNetPEST

The EU Farm to Fork strategy, which is at the heart of the European Green Deal, aims to make food systems fair, healthy, and environmentally friendly. To achieve the objectives of the Farm to Fork strategy, the Commission proposed, among other, new targets to reduce the use and risks of pesticides (RURP).

The main objective of AdvisoryNetPEST is to establish and upgrade a network of advisory services across the EU, increasing the knowledge sharing between advisors, and among the whole AKIS, and the adoption of innovative solutions to RURP by farmers. The project will achieve this by:

1) Developing an EU network of advisors to RURP, based on existing networks and national AKIS, covering the 27 EU Members States (MSs) and the UK. To cover all MSs, the project will adopt a twinning approach: 14 National Networks will be created by the project partners, and these will engage with 14 Associated Networks through a twining program. The network will cover all European pedo-climatic areas, integrating four EU regional clusters and the most relevant crop sectors.

2) Identifying, selecting, and shaping Novel Approaches (NAs), which are technically, economically, socially, and environmentally viable, that will be adapted and replicated across the EU.

3) Exchanging knowledge and training advisors and students to promote the adoption of the NAs.

4) Connecting the project with other national and EU projects, initiatives and policy makers.

5) Scaling up the NAs, fostering the adoption of innovative solutions by farmers and the whole value chain.

The project will embrace a multi-actor approach, gathering 19 partner organisations with a vast experience in advisory and crop protection. The consortium will also represent a diversity of AKIS stakeholders, including advisors, researchers, and other value chain actors, as the cornerstone of a regional, national, and EU level network that will allow a wide sharing of technical and practical expertise to RURP in the long-term.

Role of GAIA: Consortium partner

Main activities and responsibilities of GAIA:

GAIA EPICHEIREIN will be the National Network Leader (NNL). In that sense GAIA is in charge to animate and establish the National Network (NN) which is a group of advisors organized per Crop Sector. The NN should be embedded in the Local AKIS as a group of actors, stakeholders and organisations, who join together to promote mutual learning and generate, share and use knowledge and information related to the RURD. The NN will build its activities on existing AKIS and networks to improve knowledge flows and reinforce connectiveness through the project activities.

Furthermore, GAIA as NNL will be the main interface between the project actors and the national network of advisors and the National Sector Leaders (NSL), will support the advisors and the NSLs in networking, identifying, analysing and adapting the Novel Approaches derived from project’s activities, scaling up the NAs, connecting the network with other projects and policy makers and disseminating the results at national level.