17th Fitosymposium Seville
Kerona Scientific attended the 17th Fitoymposium on March 13th to 15th in Seville, Spain.
This three-day gathering brought together experts, public and private organizations, and professionals from the plant protection and fertilizer sectors.
The main discussions during the event were regarding food quality and safety at European level; the new updates and challenges regarding sustainability in the agricultural sector, including new European Regulations on the sustainability and safe use of agrochemicals; new challenges on plant health and the new digital tools for the agricultural sector.
One particularly interesting presentation covering the updates for the low-risk plant protection products (PPP) was given by José Luis Alonso Prados, Scientific Director and Researcher of the Plant Protection Unit at the National Institute for Agricultural and Food Research and Technology (INIA-CSIC). The presentation covered the current regulatory situation of low-risk PPPs, distinguishing between products based on microorganisms and the rest of active substances included in this group.
José Luis shared the discussions and work that are taking place to increase the availability of authorized low-risk PPPs such as giving priority for the evaluation of low-risk products, reducing the evaluation time and developing new guidelines for the requirements and evaluation of low-risk PPP.
He finalized his presentation with the main points concluded in the European Commission workshop of December 2023, whose aim was to improve the evaluation procedures of PPPs at the zonal level. The workshop was divided into 5 working groups, each one focused on the following topics:
- Legal requirements compliance
- Zonal decision-making harmonization (highlighting mutual recognition, minor uses and co-formulants evaluation)
- Distribution of work on digital platforms (IUCLID future and role on the plant protection authorization procedure)
- Implementation of new scientific and technical knowledge (new guidance documents)
- Plant protection products authorization under the Green Deal (low risk plant protection products evaluations, biocontrol and non-chemical products)