Workshop “Sustainable use of herbicides and novel weeding solutions in cropping systems”


Posted on June 6th, 2024 on 11:41:13 by Milena Simić



Short report of the EWRS WG Sustainable us of herbicides Workshop “Sustainable use of herbicides and novel weeding solutions in cropping systems” in Belgrade, Serbia, from 13th to 15th May 2024

The scope of this 3-day workshop meeting was to address the challenges of sustainable EU strategies: Green Deal, Farm to Fork and Sustainable Use of pesticides Regulation (SUR) to crop cultivation and protection systems. The aim of the workshop was to exchange current research results and knowledge related to the sustainable use of herbicides, utilization of IWM systems that reduce the amounts and risks of herbicides in European cropping systems.

The major topics were: 

  • Herbicide resistance – present situation and perspectives 
  • Sustainability practices based on biology & ecology of the most troublesome weed species 
  • Non-chemical methods as a tool of IWM systems (rotations, tillage, mulching and intercropping)
  • Agroecological solutions based on application of sustainable measures (cover crops, intercropping, bioherbicdes, biofertilizers etc.)
  • Herbicide tolerant crops
  • Smart & digital solutions to minimize use and risk (DSS, robotics, spraying systems, UAVs)

In the first two days, the 36 participants from 9 countries took part in the workshop together with a good number of postgraduate students and early-stage career scientists which presented Master/PhD-thesis results, projects and experiments. The EWRS provided financial support to four (4) students/early-stage career scientists and the invited speaker to present their research in the workshop. 

On the last day, we visited field experiments in Maize Research Institute Zemun Polje, to visualize the latest developments in the sustainable use of agroecological measures and herbicides. At the end we had closing discussion and concluding remarks. 

We would like to express our thanks to the European Weed Research Society (EWRS), the Serbian Weed Science Society and Maize Research Institute Zemun Polje for their significant contribution in hosting the workshop. The book of abstracts would be available in the site of the Working Group, at the EWRS internet site.


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