The third workshop organized in France as part of the European INNOSETA H2020 project (thematic network on spraying) and the “Contrat de Solutions” was held by videoconference on July 2nd, 2020. This event could not be organized face to face, as initially planned, due to the health situation related to Covid19. This day of technical exchanges dedicated to spraying innovation in field crops was co-organized by IFV (French Institute of Wine and Vineyards) and Arvalis Institut du Végétal with the support of CEMA (European union of agro-equipment manufacturers), FNCuma and Vegephyl.
This workshop started with the presentation of the INNOSETA project and its interactive web platform, which lists all the spraying innovations, all sectors combined, at the European level (https://platform.innoseta.eu/).
This introduction was followed by the presentation of the “Contrat de Solutions” (https://contratsolutions.fr/), a collection of solutions for reducing the use and impact of plant protection products, established in a concerted manner by forty partners at the national level.
The objective of the workshop was to bring together stakeholders involved in the field crop sector in France (sprayer manufacturers, phytosanitary firms, administrations, agricultural development stakeholders, farmers, technical institutes, etc.) to talk about the issues surrounding spraying innovation and to identify ways of encouraging its appropriation by farmers.
As the meeting was organized online, we limited the number of participants to national representatives of stakeholders involved in field crop spraying. A total of 27 people from different professional backgrounds answered to the invitation. Three themes were discussed throughout the day:
Theme 1. Spray quality and application precision;
Theme 2. Spray drift reduction;
Theme 3. Prevention of point sources pollution – Environmental safety and operator health.
