Sustainable Pest Control In Fabaceae-rich Innovative Cropping Systems

The SPECIFICS project aims to develop innovative solutions for growing grain legumes (pea, faba bean, chickpea, lentil, soybean, etc.) with reduced pesticide use, leveraging agroecological principles. The objective is to better protect these crops against diseases, pests, and weeds, while strengthening their role within agricultural and food systems.

Since the project's inception, progress has been made across several complementary areas: breeding more tolerant varieties, designing diversified cropping systems, evaluating their economic, environmental, and social performance, and analyzing barriers and drivers for value chain development.

In 2025, several significant advances were achieved. Pea and faba bean genotypes exhibiting greater tolerance to specific biotic and abiotic stresses were identified. Field trials confirmed the benefits of certain crop associations for improved management of weeds and diseases. Decision-support tools for designing cropping systems were enhanced, and a scientific database was made available to the research community.

The project also strengthened its collective momentum through numerous scientific meetings, an annual consortium gathering, new recruitments, PhD supervision, and multiple scientific publications and presentations. Results were widely disseminated to researchers, students, agricultural professionals, and the general public.

Thus, SPECIFICS contributes to generating knowledge and concrete tools to support the transition towards agricultural systems that are more sustainable, resilient, and less dependent on pesticides.