After 4.5 years of collaboration under the H2020 programme and the Farm-to-Fork strategy, IPMWORKS held its final event online, marking the culmination of an ambitious initiative that engaged 31 partners and 250 farmers across Europe.
The event highlighted the success of IPMWORKS in establishing an EU-wide network of commercial farms demonstrating a holistic approach to Integrated Pest Management (IPM). By reducing pesticide use without compromising productivity or profitability, these pioneering farmers have shown that sustainable agriculture is both viable and beneficial. A core achievement of the project has been the development of a structured methodology promoting IPM through hubs of demonstration farms and peer-to-peer knowledge exchange, facilitated by trained ‘Hub Coaches.’ This methodology will serve as IPMWORKS’ lasting legacy.
Key Highlights from the Final Webinar
The final webinar featured two main sessions:
- Showcasing Success: Farmers Bruno (Portugal) and Bart (Poland, represented by Anna) shared their experiences, alongside Jolien, an IPMWORKS Hub Coach ambassador. The consortium presented key project outcomes, demonstrating that IPM reduces pesticide reliance, remains cost-effective, and has been increasingly adopted by participating farmers.
- Interactive Policy Workshop: The second session gathered audience contributions on policy measures to further encourage holistic IPM adoption across European agriculture. The most discussed proposals included:
- Introducing a PESTI-score label to inform consumers about pesticide usage and incentivize low-input farming with premium prices.
- Increasing support for organic farming conversion.
- Implementing tax measures on pesticides (PPPs) to fund sustainable practices.
- Allocating financial resources for advisor training and continuous education.
- Establishing dedicated funding for Hub Coaches and demo farm networks at the EU level.
- Providing tax credits and direct financial support to farmers implementing holistic IPM.
- Encouraging landscape-level farmer cooperation through financial incentives.
Closing Remarks & Next Steps
Olivier Le Gall, Chairman of the European Agroecology Partnership initiative, concluded the event by reinforcing IPMWORKS’ key messages:
- The need to continue promoting holistic IPM to reduce pesticide use in Europe.
- The importance of expanding the EU-wide network of IPM demonstration farms, building on IPMWORKS’ methodological Proof of Concept.
- Ensuring that the transition to sustainable farming is seen as an economic opportunity, not a constraint, by the farming community.
The full webinar replay is now available here.
The full presentations are available here.