This project  ended in November 2022

AREFLH is a partner of the CONSOLE project – “CONtract SOLutions for Effective and lasting delivery of agri-environmental-climate public goods by EU agriculture and forestry"
 
The general objective of CONSOLE is to boost innovation in the lasting delivery of agri-environmental-climate public goods (AECPGs) by EU agriculture and forestry, by building a Community of Practice (CoP), by designing and testing effective and efficient cooperation models and by developing a contractual framework supporting implementation by multiple actors.
 
The CONSOLE consortium gathers over 24 institutions from 12 European countries covering a broad range of actors https://console-project.eu/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/CONSOLE_modified.png" class="transparent" />(farmers, organizations, researchers, public administration, consultant companies). The H2020 project will run for the next 3 years and is expected to deliver its results in early 2022.

As a consortium member, AREFLH will be tasked with communicating and disseminating information related to this project as well as organizing national and European events to promote its results.
 

In october 2020 the CONSOLE project has developed a major Dissemination and Communication Strategy whose objective is to serve as a training plan for awareness raising activities, stakeholder information and dissemination of CONSOLE project results.

The objective of this plan is to ensure that the project has a structured and streamlined approach to communicate about the project using various tools. The plan will also describe the next tasks and how the project is expected to be exploited.

In order to achieve the proposed objectives, the CONSOLE project has designed a page (including logos, type of letters, corporate colours, etc.) that facilitates user navigation, but has also developed a comprehensive digital marketing strategy.

Survey 

AREFLH suggest that you replied to a survey., structured on 3 sections that are all essential:

• The background characteristics of the respondents
• Acceptability of new contracts solutions
• Macro-environmental factors of operational environment (PESTLE) that are fostering or hindering the adoption of result-based contracts

Reply to the survey.

Case studies and CONSOLE-related articles :

• Using natural flood management to achieve multiple environmental benefits in Wharfedale
• Monitoring and Boosting environmentally beneficial practice in the olive grove within the framework of the new CAP measures 
• Case study on increasing the humus in soils with The programme called The Humus, in Austria 

• The EU project CONSOLE organised on 2nd december 2021 an online training on "innovative contractual solutions & the new CAP”.

• Agroecological transition pathways in arable farming
• Case study in North Yorkshire : the environmental improvement across a whole catchment in Esk Valley in the UK.
• Case study : forest conversion from coniferous to deciduous stands; Environmental restoration of a private forest in Bavaria undertaken as an eco-account offsetting scheme

• Case Study in Germany – Organic farming for biodiversity

• Know more about  Hiilipörssi, a Finnish initiative on Carbon Market that restores ditched peatlands

Kick-off meeting (2019)

The kick-off meeting of the CONSOLE project took place on 23 and 24 May 2019 in Seville, Spain (photo below)

To learn more about the project please visit :

• The website
• LinkedIn
• Twitter: @ProjectConsole 
• Facebook: @Console.project 

This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation programme under the grant agreement: No.817949. 

NUTRIMAN : Nutrient Management and Nutrient Recovery Thematic Network

This project finished on September 2021

NUTRIMAN is a Nitrogen and Phosphorus thematic network compiling knowledge for recovered bio-based fertiliser products, technologies, applications and practices; while connecting the market competitive and commercially "ready for practice" innovative results from high research maturity applied scientific programmes and common industrial practices, for the interest and benefit of agricultural practitioners.

Agriculture and food industry have a high dependence on resources in their production and strive for long-term sustainability. In this context, there is an urgent need to optimise resource use and smooth the transition to a knowledge-driven agriculture. Therefore, it is essential to spread knowledge and information about the insufficiently exploited N/P recovery innovations (technologies, products, practices) to agricultural practitioners.

The objective of NUTRIMAN is to improve the exploitation of the ready-for-practice cases of N/P nutrient management/recovery potential that are not yet sufficiently known by practitioners. Our action will create new opportunities for farmers to develop connections between applied research with practically useful results and farming practice in the priority area of nutrient management and nutrient recovery. NUTRIMAN takes a bottom-up approach to identify incentives and bottlenecks for adoption and to prioritise technologies/products that will ensure greater willingness to utilise innovations and improve multiplier effects. The project targets large scale uptake of the recovered N/P innovative fertilisers, produced from unexploited resources of organic or secondary raw materials in line with the circular economy model, that are efficiently used by farmers from both economic and environmental standpoints.

The NUTRIMAN project results will be effectively disseminated and exploited through a multilingual web platform, multilingual abstracts in the EIP-AGRI format and best practice field demonstrations for farmers. As a result, this action contributes to the successful deployment of the vast reservoir of existing scientific/practical knowledge on the N/P recovery theme.

WE WOULD LIKE YOU TO PARTICIPATE TO A SURVEY

The following questionnaire is available in 8 languages : EN, ES, NL, IT, FR, DE, PL, HU

Your replies will help with the selection of the best available nutrient recovery technologies and products for deployment/market uptake promotion of Nitrogen/Phosphorus recovery innovations.

Your participation in the NUTRIMAN questionnaire is voluntary.

Project partners :

• Terra Humana Tiszta Technologiakatfejleszto Tervezo Es Kivitelezo Kft, Hungary

• Stichting Effost, Netherlands

• Zuidelijke Land- En Tuinbouworganisatie Vereniging, Netherlands

• Assemblee Permanente Des Chambres D'agriculture, France

• Universiteit Gent, Belgium

• Inagro, Provinciaal Extern Verzelfstandigd Agentschap In Privaatrechtelijke Vorm Vzw, Belgium

• Assemblee Des Regions Europeennes Fruitieres Legumieres Et Horticoles (Areflh), France

• Vlaco Vzw, Belgium

• Fundacion Cartif, Spain

• Universita Degli Studi Di Torino, Italy

• Institut Fur Baustoff-Forschung Ev, Germany

• Instytut Uprawy Nawozenia I Gleboznawstwa, Panstwowy Instytut Badawczy, Poland

• Depuración De Aguas Del Mediterráneo S.L., Spain

• Magyar Agrar, Elelmiszergazdasagi Es Videkfejlesztesi Kamara, Hungary 

Final International Conference 

The final conference of the project will take place online, on Teams, on 16th September 2021 from 9am to 5 pm (Paris time). Read more.

More information :

• Website: www.nutriman.net

• Coordinated by: Terra Humana

• Project main contact, the coordinator and nutrient recovery S&T senior project leader: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

• Project national contact in France, at AREFLH : This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., General Secretary

• Duration: October 2018 to March 2021.

• Funding program: European Union's Horizon 2020

• Grant agreement no.: 818470

To know more about the project and receive its updates, no not hesitate to register on NUTRIMAN newsletter :  nutriman.net/subscribe

Related articles :

Terra-Preta, a biochar product recovered from wood chips and processed by the “3R” high-temperature pyrolysis process. It is an innovative fertilising product that is included on the Nutriman Farmers' Platform.

This project has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement N°818470

CONSOLE (November 2020 update)

The fourth project meeting of the Console "CONtract SOLutions for Effective and lasting delivery of agri-environmental-climate public goods by EU agriculture and forestry" was held on 07 & 09 October 2020 through videoconference due to the current sanitary emergency related to COVID19. 

The meeting aimed was to provide a general overview of the activities carried out in the last eighteen months of the project and to plan contingency plans for the next project activities. 

During the meeting, the lessons learnt about the diagnostics of extended experiences on agro-environmental climate public goods (AECPG, s) were discussed. As well as some recommendations were presented such as: addressing contracts to specific regions, the definition of clear AECPG objectives, the involvement of land managers, simple and clear design of contractual solutions, a fair payment level, including elements of collective agreements. Results-based solutions and collective solutions do not fit all contexts.  

Furthermore, participants also discussed activities related to the development of a draft catalogue of practical solutions. The catalogue will show existing successful experiences and good practices in AECPG's contracts based on case studies that will be presented in a model that can be used as an example for professionals including suggestions for replicas. It will also create a "design guide" intended as a systematic and comprehensive process for the design of AECPGs contracts, including the conceptual framework, determining design variables, legal and technological aspects and the roles of different levels of governance in implementation. 

The project partners also discussed in detail the implementation of the next activities concerning pan-EU surveys on farmers and other rural landowners, the survey of other key actors and stakeholders, digital workshops that will all take place online, due to the current health situation of COVID-19. 

The CONSOLE project aims to promote innovation in the sustainable delivery of agri-environmental-climate public goods in EU agriculture and forestry. The CONSOLE framework will allow for better design and facilitate the implementation of innovative contractual solutions for the supply of AECPG under various conditions across the EU. 

For more information please visit:

• The website
  
• LinkedIn 
• Twitter: @ProjectConsole 
  
• Facebook: @Console.project

SmartProtect (November 2020 update)

The SmartProtect project is a thematic network focused on interregional knowledge sharing of SMART IPM solutions for farmers and consultants. AREFLH would like to inform you this month that the SmartProtect IPM Thematic Network project is listed in the thematic networks of the EIP-AGRI Service Point networks in the health plant category. EIP-AGRI is a European platform for the exchange of knowledge on sustainable agriculture and horticulture.  

Thematic networks are multi-actor projects that gather existing knowledge and best practices on a given topic to make them available in formats that are easily understood by end users such as farmers, foresters, advisors and others. They are currently 34 Thematic networks funded under Horizon 2020 calls 2014-2019 .  

For more information see the full list of EIP-AGRIs  

For more information please visit:

• Facebook
• Twitter
• LinkedIn :
• Site web SmartProtect

 How RNAi Works  

Ribonucleic acid (RNA) interference, often abbreviated as RNAi, is a new technique that allows precise targeting and then turning off specific genes inside an organism’s cells. The mechanism behind RNAi was first described at the turn of the 21st century.  

RNAi disrupts the process of extracting the information stored in an organism’s DNA and using it to produce proteins, thus interfering with physiological processes at a cellular level. Proteins are essential components of all living organisms on the planet Earth. 

RNAi prevents mRNA from getting to ribosomes in one piece. This is done by applying another molecule, called a double-stranded RNA, or dsRNA for short, that matches the target mRNA in its structure. (I know that there are perhaps too many RNAs to keep track of in this text, but there is not much that I can do about it). This molecule enters the cell, reacts with a few special proteins that are already present in the cell, and then literally shreds the target mRNA. As a result, no information is delivered to the ribosomes and no new proteins are produced.  

How RNAi works in Insect Control 

RNAi is a powerful technique that has many potentials uses in biotechnology and medicine. One of the promising applications is developing new insecticides. We can identify a specific gene that is unique to an organism belonging to a given pest species and is essential for its survival. We can then synthesize dsRNA that matches this gene, get it inside the target organisms, and then kill them by turning off this gene. Non-target organisms that do not have the same gene should not be affected in the process. RNAi allows designing an active ingredient that aims at a specific pest in a specific manner. In the field, such a dsRNA can be delivered to a target insect in two ways. The first one is to genetically modify crop plants to make them produce dsRNA in their foliage 

The second way of deploying insecticidal dsRNA is to produce it at a factory and then spray it on the foliage. There are several such products at different stages of development.

 What RNAi can’t do in Insect Control 

RNAi may well open a new chapter in insect control, complementing and maybe even replacing to some degree synthetic chemicals that currently dominate this field. However, it will not provide a silver-bullet solution that will once and for all protect crops from insect damage. So far, it appears that insecticides containing dsRNA as their active ingredients will have the same problems as their predecessors. 

First, some groups of insects are not particularly responsive to RNAi. Beetles, such as Western corn rootworm and Colorado potato beetle mentioned above, are generally susceptible. However, caterpillars, as well as aphids, leafhoppers, scales, whiteflies, and their relatives are rather recalcitrant. We do not yet know why this happens, but it may have something to do with their ability to digest dsRNA in their guts before they make it into the cells. 

Secondly, while dsRNA appears to be generally safe to non-target organisms, this safety should not be taken for granted. Some of the genes are similar or even identical among different species. 

Thirdly, insecticide resistance is likely to be an issue for the dsRNA just like it is an issue for other active ingredients. Mutants will arise that will be able to somehow destroy or avoid dsRNA molecules. These mutants will survive, proliferate, and take over the world (or at least the field). 

To know more read the article of CropLife  

For more information please visit: ·

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• Website

This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme under Grant Agreement No. 862563.