Brussels, November 7th, 2023. Today, Tuesday, November 7th, from 10:00 to 11:30 (Brussels time), the European project LIFE NextFUMIGREEN hosted a webinar as part of the parallel events of the EU Regions Week 2023 entitled “Innovative Natural Fumigants for a Sustainable Europe: LIFE NextFUMIGREEN Project and its Benefits for the Environment.”
The event emphasized the importance of protecting agricultural activity and employing sustainable alternatives to chemical pesticides, considering their impact on the environment and food safety. It also emphasized the benefits of using fumigant phytosanitary products based on natural active ingredients.
The institutional panel titled “Green Solutions and the European Union” was introduced by MEP and Vice-Chair of the Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development (AGRI), Mazaly Aguilar. During her address, she highlighted the importance of adopting “balanced options” in pesticide use. She also stressed the significance of not opting for a “total and absolute replacement of traditional methods” but rather implementing “adequate and responsible management” of chemicals, especially when crops face serious threats.
Subsequently, Heijo Höfer, Member of the European Committee of the Regions (CoR), addressed regulations and future perspectives on pesticide and chemical use in the European Union. He emphasized that the “development of new ecological methods” is crucial and highlighted that, in this regard, “biological control is the solution.”
In the panel dedicated to the project’s scope, Juanma Revuelta, CEO of Fundación FINNOVA (EU), discussed the opportunities offered by European funds and the LIFE Program. Additionally, he took the opportunity to call for public-private collaboration with LIFE projects to ensure the continuity of them and progress towards shared sustainable goals.
On his part, Carlos Ramos, Operations Manager at Fumi-Hogar, explained the LIFE NextFUMIGREEN project, detailing its main innovations and the beneficial results it has demonstrated in terms of food safety, sustainability, and climate change, and how these can contribute to Europe.
To conclude, a roundtable was held to exchange best practices, presenting examples of other approved projects. Sandra Aldaz del Burgo, a biologist at INTIA, introduced about LIFE-IP NAdapta; Lars T. BERGER, Chief Technology Officer at Pulverizadores Fede, presented the advancements of the Life-AIs project, and Carolina Martínez Gaitán head of R&D at the Technological Center Tecnova, explained the Rustica project.
The full webinar can be viewed here.
About LIFE NextFUMIGREEN
The European project LIFE NextFUMIGREEN actively promotes food safety by developing natural fumigants derived from plant extracts to control pests in intensive horticultural crops under greenhouses. Led by Fumihogar (www.fumi-hogar.com) in collaboration with the Foundation for Auxiliary Agriculture Technologies (www.fundaciontecnova.com), the Finnova Foundation (www.finnova.eu), B&B Environmental Auditors Advisors (www.bbasesores.com), Comercial Quimica Masso (www.cqmasso.com), and BrioAgro Tech (www.brioagro.es), the project has a total budget of €2,758,921.01, 60% of which is subsidized by the LIFE Programme.
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