CIHEAM Zaragoza took part in the H2020 IPMWorks project annual meeting held from 25 to 27 October 2022 at Agroscope in Switzerland. The international gathering, marking a mid-term milestone, served to reflect on the project’s achievements over the past two years and its plans for the future.

The IMPWorks consortium is composed of 31 partners from 16 European countries, working together to demonstrate and promote cost-effective Integrated Pest Management (IPM) strategies. The aim of the project is to achieve a low reliance on pesticides by sharing success stories, organising peer-to-peer knowledge exchange activities, promoting farm demonstrations, and training farmers and advisors on IPM.

The role of CIHEAM Zaragoza in the project consists in developing communication and training activities, as well as leading the national policy networks work package.

During the annual meeting, Antonio López-Francos, CIHEAM Zaragoza Cooperative Project and Network Administrator, presented the IMPWorks training action plan and the structure of the IPMWorks e-learning materials. A 2023 spring pilot training in Zaragoza (Spain) and training sessions across 2023 and 2024 organized by national focal points and sector leaders / hubs in their own countries were announced at the international gathering.

Small group discussions and role playing activities took also place during the meeting to share ideas on how to bring the holistic aspect of IPM and engage farmers in the hub meetings and demonstrations.

These activities were complemented with field visits to two Swiss farms to see “IPM in practice”.