Plants and Plant Products
The ’Plants and Plant Products’ Competence Division develops practical solutions for the Swiss plant production sector and is involved in various enforcement activities. It cultivates close ties with agricultural practitioners, agricultural advisory services and other stakeholders in the value chain for the purpose of knowledge exchange. In addition, it works together with Swiss federal and cantonal agencies and promotes the networking of research within Agroscope. In this way, it ensures that current research findings and new solutions come to fruition in practice, and that, conversely, the needs of practice and agricultural advisory services are taken up by researchers. For enforcement, federal agencies and agriculture policy-makers, the Division develops important agronomic decision-making criteria.
The ’Plants and Plant Products’ Competence Division develops effective and feasible cropping and plant-protection strategies in arable, vegetable and fruit production in consultation with practitioners, thereby helping the latter meet the concrete challenges of agricultural production and protect natural resources whilst generating added value. In arable and fruit production, the Division tests the suitability of varieties for cultivation.
The ’Plants and Plant Products’ Competence Division is responsible for various enforcement tasks, including seed certification and quality testing. In this way, it ensures that only healthy, high-quality seed for arable and forage crops comes on the market. Together with Agroscope’s Plant Protection Service, it makes a major contribution to preventing the introduction and spread of particularly dangerous insect pest organisms in Switzerland. Its plant-protection product (PPP) expertise is drawn on in the formulation of expert reports on both PPP authorisation and risk evaluation.
Head
Deputy
Research Groups
Index
Seed Quality
The ‘Seed Quality’ Research Group ensures that only pure, high-quality Swiss seed comes on the market. It certifies seed fields and examines batches of seed in the laboratory in accordance with the legal provisions. It constantly refines its knowledge on seed which it then makes available to various national and international expert bodies.
Vegetable-Production Extension
The ‘Vegetable-Production Extension’ Research Group develops sustainable and resource-efficient cultivation and plant-protection strategies to promote the environmentally friendly, cost-efficient production of quality vegetables. The Group fulfils an important function as a bridge-builder between basic research and vegetable producers.
Extension Arable Crops
The research group ‘Extension Arable Crops’ develops practical solutions for the ecological control of diseases and pests. The group also tests varieties of different arable crops in terms of their suitability for cultivation and utilisation under Swiss conditions. A holistic approach is taken with the aim of developing cost-efficient, sustainable and climate-resilient arable farming systems. The team ‘Field Cultivation’ provides support for tillage, sowing, fertilisation, plant protection and harvesting to all research groups. In addition, the team 'Field Cultivation' is also responsible for the allocation and maintenance of the experimental land, as well as for site maintenance and various forms of transport. It is also responsible for the renewal and digitalisation of the machinery fleet.
Fruit-Production Extension
The ’Fruit Production Extension’ Research Group develops cultivation and plant-protection strategies for the environmentally friendly and cost-effective production of quality fruit, and tests fruit varieties in terms of their robustness and suitability for cultivation under Swiss conditions. The Group fulfils an important function as a bridge-builder between basic research and fruit producers.
Plant Health Service
The Agroscope Plant Health Service supports the Swiss Federal Plant Protection Service (FPPS) with scientific expert reports in both the monitoring and control of particularly dangerous harmful organisms in agriculture. As part of the FPPS it prepares expert reports, coordinates territorial surveillance, trains professionals and carries out risk assessments for harmful organisms according to international standards.
Plant Protection Products – Impact and Assessment
The ‘Plant Protection Products – Impact and Assessment’ Research Group combines comprehensive knowledge of plant protection products with expertise on their behaviour and effects in the environment as well as their assessment. The Group’s projects combine experimental research with model approaches and data analysis, thereby contributing to the interdisciplinary consideration of plant protection products in the context of their use in agriculture.