Code : 101060591
Contract Period : 01/10/2022 - 30/09/2025
Project Webpage : https://www.oper-8.eu/
Main Funder : The European Union Horizon 2021 Food, Bioeconomy Natural Resources, Agriculture and Environment Programme under grant agreement 101060591
ORC Staff Contact : Julia Cooper
European Thematic Network for unlocking the full potential of Operational Groups on alternative weed control.
With herbicide resistance, a lack of new active ingredients and legislation reducing the number of available herbicide actives, growers in the UK and beyond are being pushed towards biological and cultural methods of weed control. To improve grower confidence in alternative weed control strategies, a H2021 European project called OPER8 will share guidance and advice on alternative methods which are proven to be effective on farm against key weeds.
A new EU-wide network has been launched to support and promote solutions for alternative weed control. OPER8 is a three-year H2021 European project led by the Agricultural University of Athens and supported by eight partner organisations from seven countries.
The Oper8 project builds upon the findings from eight European Innovation Projects, which investigated alternative weed control methods across Europe.
The overall objective is to communicate, demonstrate and promote alternative weed control solutions to key stakeholders through networks across Europe.
With the ambition to achieve a high impact and improve the sustainability of the European agricultural sector, OPER8 will bring together 8 operational groups from 7 countries from the Mediterranean, Atlantic, and Nordic areas to ensure a balanced representation of different production systems. OPER8 will focus on issues identified by the involved operational groups with their approaches, identified challenges and dissemination activities.
The two Operational Groups in the UK are on Camera guided mechanical weeding and Electrical Weed Control
ORC will, through Agricology be carrying out knowledge transfer and disseminating best practices to encourage adoption and take-up at scale.
