Identifying the needs and knowledge gaps in organic fruit growing – Last days to fill out BIOFRUITNET’s questionnaire – Deadline 30 September

Protection against pests and diseases is a big issue for organic fruit growers, as fruit is a very sensitive produce. Many organic farmers in Europe have adapted their own practices and techniques to successfully deal with the challenge of organic plant protection. This valuable practical knowledge often remains at the local level, instead of being shared with fruit growers facing the same problems in other regions.

To get an up-to-date picture of what challenges organic fruit growers in Europe are facing as well as the strategies they are using to face these challenges, BIOFRUITNET launched a questionnaire in June 2020. The intention is to find out about current needs and knowledge gaps regarding stone, pome and citrus fruit as well as best-practices and to inquire in which way farmers would prefer to access technical information about such issues. The results of the questionnaire will allow us to identify, what kind of knowledge and information is needed where. They will provide the basis to produce various communication formats such as videos, podcasts and e-learning courses, which shall be both informative and easy to understand.

We encourage fruit farming advisors, practitioners as well as selected researchers in 20 European target countries to fill in this questionnaire and to suggest combinations of practices in their local contexts by 30  September 2020