European research project : project Interreg IV
Project duration : 2012-2015 (next to the TransBioFruit I research program 2007-2011)
Project funds: The TransBioFruit project is being implemented in the context of the Interreg IV France-Wallonia-Flanders program, with the support of the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), the Regional Nord Pas-de-Calais Council, North Departmental Council, Pas-de-Calais Departmental Council and the Regional Government of Wallonia.
Project Partners: CRA-W, GABNOR, BioWallonie, FREDON Nord Pas-de-Calais
Overall objective:
Networking of producers and support organizations in the two regions to stimulate and develop expertise, experience and innovation in addressing organic fruit production issues in the cross-border area.
Specific objectives:
Networking to benefit from partners’ established expertise and knowledge.
Jointly developing innovative alternative proposals through exchanges between producers and technical advisors.
Adapting and optimizing new references through scientific experiments focused on four issues:
o development of the biodiversity in organic orchards, including the preservation and evaluation of beneficial fauna and the development of disease- and pest-resistant cultivars,
o better understanding of new emergent pests and diseases with the development of practical modifications and parasitic adaptation to new situations (e.g., life cycle modification),
o development of direct and indirect prophylactic protection methods against orchard pests and diseases (e.g., scab, mildew, canker, swooty bloch, aphids and mods), including research on alternative control methods using reduced amounts of copper,
o adaptation of the general cultivation methods and tree management.
Forming partnerships and supporting producers who are trying out these solutions at farm level; following up field trials and defining the factors affecting their implementation by producers in the two participating areas.
Networking, exchanges and the dissemination of available data and results of experiments throughout the project; networking will be organized at three levels: first, the project partners; second, the producers involved; and third, all producers and relevant organic sectors in the two participating areas.
Technical transfer from the organic fruit farming sector to the conventional farming sector.
Main publications:
Guide 1 : Les principales clés du verger bio transfrontalier - Pommes et poires, une approche globale (2012), 84 p.
Guide 2 : Verger Bio : la diversité transfrontalière (2015), 243 p
Guide 3 : Auxiliaires, Ravageurs, maladies - Guide de reconnaissance en vergers (2015), 144p
