We're pleased to share a new SPRINT paper: "Selected farm-level crop protection practices in Europe and Argentina: Opportunities for moving toward sustainable use of pesticides" 👏
👩🔬 Authored by Jennifer Mark (Research Institute of Organic Agriculture FiBL), Peter Fantke, and Farshad Soheilifard (DTU - Technical University of Denmark), alongside many others from across Europe and Argentina, the paper highlights key findings on pesticide use and sustainable practices.
📌 Key highlights:
⭐ Analysis of over 1700 pesticide applications across 11 countries, including Europe and Argentina, highlighting differences in pesticide types and their costs.
⭐ The dosages of pesticides applied varied significantly—up to 20 times around the recommended doses—suggesting a need for more precise application strategies.
⭐ Perennial crops, particularly grapes and apples, had the highest pesticide application costs per hectare.
⭐ Non-pesticide approaches such as crop rotation, resistant crop varieties, and decision support systems were identified as effective strategies to reduce pesticide dependency.
⭐ Findings suggest that adopting sustainable practices can help minimise the negative impacts on human and environmental health, supporting informed decision-making for agricultural advisory systems.
📝 The study contributes to understanding pesticide application patterns and supports the development of guidelines aimed at moving towards more sustainable agricultural practices.
Read the full paper by clicking here.
In our latest video, Philipp Mäder, PhD researcher for the SPRINT project, provides an overview of his research about the interactive effects of multiple pesticides on soil microorganisms, glyphosate breakdown, and substrate utilisation. Watch the video by clicking here.
Read all of our PhD research posters here: https://sprint-h2020.eu/index.php/resources/sprint-summaries/research-posters
Read Philipp's paper, 'Effects of MCPA and difenoconazole on glyphosate degradation and soil microorganisms', here: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0269749124016403?via%3Dihub
On 27th September 2024, Dr Paul Scheepers from SPRINT presented some of the projects results on exposure to pesticides to the European Parliament. The conference was organised by Pesticide Action Network Europe (PAN Europe), MEP Marie Toussaint and MEP Christop Clergeau and was titled “Protecting farm workers and citizens in rural areas against pesticides”. The goal of the conference was to inform policymakers about the health threats associated with pesticide exposure in rural communities. A video of the conference can be found here
We are pleased to share a recording of our recent 'ask the author' webinar. Our first webinar was presented by Dennis Knuth and Vera Silva of Wageningen University & Research. They shared findings from a recent paper about pesticide residues in organic and conventional agricultural soils across our European case study sites. Watch the video by clicking here, and read the related factsheet here.
We are pleased to share a video recording of our session at the 2024 United Nations Science Summit: "Impact of Pesticides on Ecosystems and Human Health: Risk Assessment Based on Data from the SPRINT Large-Scale Monitoring Campaign." 🧑🔬🌍
This comprehensive session explores our research on pesticide impact, featuring expert insights on global health risk assessments, effects on soil and aquatic ecosystems, and human exposure pathways.
🔗 Check out the full video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HiIHqeJv8GM
📌 Key Highlights:
- The SPRINT approach for global health risk assessment 🩺 – Violette Geissen
- Cumulative mixture risks of pesticides to native earthworms 🪱 – Kayode Jegede
- Impacts of pesticide mixtures on aquatic ecosystems 🌊 – Nelson Abrantes
- Effects on soil microorganisms 🌱 – Philipp Mader
- Glyphosate-altered microbiome and social behaviour 🧬 – Eoin Gunnigle
- Global distribution of pesticide use (2016-2020) 🗺️ – Peter Fantke
- Health effects of pesticide mixtures: a kidney story 🧫 – Benjamin Vervaet
- Consumer exposure to pesticide residues from food 🍽️ – Nina Wieland
- Gut microbiome and organoids as indicators of toxicity 🦠 – Maaike Gerritse
- External vs. internal exposure and its implications 🧪 – Daniel Martins Figueiredo & Paul Scheepers
- Final discussion and future recommendations 📈 – Violette Geissen
