The European Green Deal and the Farm to Fork Strategy have set ambitious targets for reducing risks and use of Plant Protection Products (PPPs), promoting the uptake of Integrated Pest Management (IPM), and accelerating the transition toward more sustainable and digitally enabled crop protection systems. However, despite the existence of a robust legislative framework — including the Sustainable Use of Pesticides Directive (SUD) and the proposed Regulation on PPP use — the actual implementation of these requirements across Member States remains heterogeneous and often insufficient. Small and medium-sized farms, which constitute the majority of European holdings, face significant barriers in adopting new technologies, understanding regulatory requirements, and accessing high-quality training programmes. These challenges are particularly acute in specialty crops (orchards, vineyards, citrus, almonds, olive trees), where PPP use is traditionally higher and technical requirements are more complex.
RENOVATE was conceived to directly respond to these systemic barriers. It aims to renovate the way knowledge is produced, shared, and accessed by agricultural actors. By developing a unique, attractive, easy-to-use interactive training platform, RENOVATE will consolidate new and existing practical knowledge and provide farmers with access to digital training tools, serious games, simulators, tailored learning pathways, and the results of real-life field demonstrations (AKTAs). The project emphasis´on co-creation, participatory design, and the integration of farmers’ needs — including young farmers, women and family-sized farms — to ensure that training solutions are adapted to real operational conditions and local diversity.
Through a multi-actor, cross-sectoral consortium representing academia, R&D centres, SMEs, advisors, cooperatives, manufacturers and public authorities, RENOVATE will:
•Improve farmers’ access to specialised training for sustainable PPP optimisation and crop protection;
•Enhance the adoption of innovation and digitalisation, supporting compliance with EU legislation and driving the transition towards precision agriculture;
•Compile and share practice-oriented knowledge, ready to be adopted by farmers and advisors across Europe;
•Implement Advanced Knowledge Transfer Activities (AKTAs) to demonstrate, in real conditions, how innovative tools can reduce PPP use and strengthen sustainability;
•Feed and align with EU-wide knowledge reservoirs (EU-FarmBook, ModernAKIS), ensuring long-term preservation and dissemination of practical knowledge;
•Support policymakers and training authorities by generating ready-to-use training packages aligned with SUD, CAP, Farm to Fork, and national requirements.
RENOVATE will contribute to several key EU priorities: the Farm to Fork Strategy, the Green Deal, the new CAP, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs 2, 4, 9, 12, 15), and the creation of resilient, sustainable and innovative farming systems across Europe.
