IPM Decisions: pest management platform

The IPM Decisions project aims to increase access to and uptake of Decision Support Systems (DSS) to assist on-farm decisions to implement IPM.

Background

Implementing Integrated Pest Management (IPM) practices to tackle pests, weeds and diseases can be a real challenge for farmers and advisors. Decision Support Systems (DSS) assist on-farm decision making to implement IPM. A wide range of DSS are commercially available, but have limited user numbers.

IPM Decisions is a pan-European online platform which allows farmers and advisors to access a large number of DSS for major pests, weeds and diseases in a variety of crops across Europe. The platform can assess the reliability and suitability of different decision support systems. Users are also able to compare, adapt and develop DSS to suit their needs.

Explore the IPM Decisions platform

How the platform was developed

The platform has been developed in collaboration with partners across Europe which presented many challenges. The first was how to manage the integration of DSS programs designed and developed by different partners. Different components had to be correctly integrated so that new versions of the software could be released with minimal downtime.

To achieve this, ADAS developers worked with project partners to coordinate the development. The platform also utilises open-source technologies for reduced long-term costs. Alongside the developers, ADAS pest management experts ensured that all the DSS on the platform reflected industry priorities and was valuable to the end user.

So that the platform remains fit for purpose, project coordinators run workshops annually with farmers, agronomists, researchers and developers across Europe. During these workshops, stakeholders can provide feedback on progress made, which directly feeds into the future development of the dashboards.

Project details

IPM Decisions is a H2020 European project, co-ordinated by Dr Neil Paveley (Technical Director of Crop Protection, ADAS). ADAS is collaborating with 27 partners from 12 different European countries and two pan-European companies. The five year project began in June 2019. The project was granted at a cost of €5 million.

The IPM Decisions project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No. 817617.