On March 3, 2025, the latest bi-monthly collaboration meeting between the EU-funded BrightSpace, RATION, and GeneBEcon projects was held, providing an opportunity to align ongoing research activities, discuss progress, and explore future synergies. This regular exchange continues to enhance cooperation and knowledge-sharing among the three projects, contributing to their overarching objectives in sustainable agriculture, biodiversity conservation, and regulatory frameworks for innovative technologies.
The first draft of the long planned collaboration paper is now available for the group for finalizing. Additionally, the projects have successfully submitted an application to organize a joint workshop at the EAAE 2025 pre-conference, further strengthening their engagement with the broader scientific and policy community.
Project Updates and Key Discussions
BrightSpace is preparing for its second reporting period this summer, with a strong focus on delivering a wide range of outputs. Among the key areas of work are assessments of pesticide use impacts on biodiversity and evaluations of novel plant protection products in terms of farm cost structures and potential yield implications.
A joint research opportunity has been identified to integrate results from MAGNET and FarmDyn, potentially presenting these findings at the EAAE 2025 pre-conference workshop. Additionally, BrightSpace aims to establish biodiversity linkages at the subnational level (NUTS2) and investigate how reducing pesticide expenditures — particularly for conventional pesticides — affects biodiversity at a regional scale. Aligning this with the CAPRI model could support broader scaling and policy alignment.
A critical aspect under discussion is the impact of alternative technologies in regions where certain pesticide expenditures are high but biodiversity impact is lower. Understanding the expected yield impacts of these technologies remains a key research question. These topics, alongside considerations for animal welfare and organic farming, will be further examined during the BrightSpace modelling workshop in early April.
From a communication and dissemination perspective, the joint GeneBEcon-BrightSpace paper has been uploaded to the BrightSpace Zenodo community (Zenodo link) and shared with GeneBEcon.
There are two upcoming events for joint dissemination opportunities: Euractiv Agrifood Policy Conference (25/03/2025) (Event link) and the Forum for the Future of Agriculture Conference (01/04/2025) (Event link)
Additionally, the BrightSpace newsletter is set to be released in late spring, featuring updates from both RATION and GeneBEcon.
RATION has recently submitted a report to the European Commission, mapping out the challenges and opportunities within the regulatory framework for low-risk pesticides in the EU. The next steps include conducting economic assessments and evaluating the potential for integrating these products into the MAGNET modeling framework.
GeneBEcon, which is set to conclude by August 2025, is in the process of planning its final science-policy symposium, scheduled to take place in early July in Brussels. In the coming months, the project will host a series of results webinars (April-May) covering case studies on potatoes and microalgae, as well as insights from the consumer survey on new technologies.
The next collaboration meeting is scheduled for early May, where discussions will continue to build on these research efforts and foster further synergies across the three projects.
