Safe replacements for insecticides enabled by biotechnology
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Information -
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Assessment
FEFTS Specifications
Research project
for Energy efficiency improvement
Suitable for
Conservation agriculture
Special type
Development of alternative replacements for insecticides based on pheromones
Agricultural domain
Open-field agriculture, Greenhouses
Suitable for
Farmer, Producers association, Advisory services, Industry
Applications
Agricultural field practices
Especially
Pest control (crop protection)
Type of solution
Hardware, Methodology, Complete solution
Details
Project`s acronym: Olefine
Project funding type: EU
Project funding source: H2020
Project coordinator: Markus Herrgård
Coordinator location: Denmark
Coordinator email / Contact form: herrgard@biosustain.dtu.dk
Project status: Ongoing
Total budget: 7606556,75
Additional info
Nowadays everybody is aware of the toxic effects of the conventional insecticides that are used to protect our plants from pest insects. The insecticides are harmful for the farmer, who sprays them on the field, for the pollinating insects, e.g., bees, and insecticide residues on fruits and vegetables are harmful for the consumer. But are there other safer ways to protect the plants from pest insects?
Yes, one of most promising methods is mating disruption, where small amounts of insect sex pheromones are released in the field to prevent the males from finding the insect females. This way females do not get fertilized and can not lay eggs that develop into larvae eating the plants. The technology is simple and effective, but until now quite expensive.
The EU-funded project OLEFINE will solve this problem, making pheromones so cheap that they will become an affordable alternative to insecticides. Currently, pheromones are produced by chemical synthesis, which is an expensive and polluting process. The scientists in OLEFINE will use biotechnology instead to produce pheromones at low cost by brewing, in the same way how insulin is made for diabetes treatment and enzymes are produced for washing powders.
Relevant Files and Videos
Assessment
This section contains a brief assessment of the FEFTS described.
There are 3 basic categories: General, Environmental and Socioeconomic assessment.
The purpose of this assessment is to give a quick overview to the potential FEFTS user of its application benefits.
For each question, the Likert scale is used with the following possible answers:
Strongly disagree, Disagree, Neither agree nor disagree (Neutral)/non applicable, Agree, Strongly agree
General
This FEFTS contributes to improve the energy profiles of farming systems:Environmental
The application of this FEFTS directly reduces fossil energy use, in terms of:- Tractors and vehicles fuel consumption
- Pesticide reduction
Socioeconomic
The application of this FEFTS contributes to cost reductions of farming systems:Keep in mind that this assessment is subjective, based on publicly available information.
All registered users are asked to evaluate each FEFTS and when an adequate number of reviews is gathered the results depicted here are updated. Each review is screened in order to avoid malicious practices.
FEFTS providers who do not agree with the assessment results, can send their inquiry to info@agrofossilfree.eu and a direct action based on their petition will be taken.