On Tuesday, June 18, during the ATRIA Coordination meeting for citrus and fruit trees of Agro-food Cooperatives of the Valencian Community, the official presentation of the NextGenBioPest project was made to ATRIA technicians. ATRIA is a public national network of agricultural technicians from cooperatives, aimed at coordinating the monitoring and integrated management of agricultural pests. For the past 40 years, ATRIA has successfully spread novel management techniques among agricultural professionals.
The annual coordination meeting was hosted by Cooperativa Agricola de Pego (COOPEGO) and included participation from IVIA. During this event, the rationale and goals of the NextGenBioPest project were presented to an audience of around 20 technicians from agricultural cooperatives in the Alicante and Valencia regions.
As part of the project's objectives, the importance of managing in-grove diversity through the use of sown cover crops was highlighted. This approach optimizes natural enemy release programs and reduces the mutualistic relationships between ants and honeydew-producing hemipterans. Following the indoor presentation, the technicians visited experimental citrus groves where NextGenBioPest bioassays are currently being conducted.
An article about this meeting has been prepared and published in the latest issue of the technical journal "Agricultura y Cooperación."
NextGenBioPest aims to transfer new research developments directly to the agricultural sector through demonstration and dissemination actions. The collaboration between IVIA, producer associations, COOPEGO (a consortium partner), and Agro-food Cooperatives will be fundamental in leading the transition towards more sustainable citrus farming.