The PurPest project has been highlighted in the European Commission’s AgriResearch Factsheet, recognizing its key role in tackling plant pest outbreaks through advanced monitoring and site-specific control technologies. The publication underscores the increasing challenges to plant health posed by global trade, climate change, and the rapid spread of pests and diseases. With a strong commitment...

Ted Turlings, from the University of Neuchâtel (UNINE), recently traveled to Mexico to collect volatile organic compounds from maize plants infested with the fall armyworm, Spodoptera frugiperda, and healthy control plants. The objective is to determine if we could capture caterpillar-induced volatiles under natural field conditions and without enclosing the plants in...

On January 15, 2025, the PurPest team convened for the Digital Project Meeting to review and discuss the progress of ongoing project activities. This collaborative session provided an opportunity to evaluate the milestones achieved so far, identify and address any challenges or obstacles encountered during project execution, and strategize on tasks and priorities for the coming...

Last week, Brussels received the annual EU Agri-Food Days, and our coordinator, Andrea Ficke, was present to represent the project. Andrea joined stakeholders, civil society, consumers, lobby groups, policymakers, and researchers in the agri-food sector to discuss current trends, innovations, and digital technologies that are shaping European agriculture of today and tomorrow...

Jürgen Gross from the Julius Kühn-Institut appeared on the German talk show Planet Wissen in an episode titled "Wie gefährlich sind invasive Insektenarten?" (How dangerous are invasive insect species?), to discuss the challenges of invasive species and present insights from the PurPest project. A segment specifically focused on the PurPest project is featured starting at...

Several PurPest consortium members recently published a review paper, "The use of volatile organic compounds in preventing and managing invasive plant pests and pathogens," in Frontiers in Horticulture.

This review analyzes the Volatile Organic Compound (VOC) emissions in five invasive model species: three insects, Halyomorpha halys, Spodoptera frugiperda, Helicoverpa armigera, a...

The PurPest YouTube channel was officially launched yesterday. The channel will be updated regularly with content about the pests and pathogens we are studying and the technology we are developing.

In our first video, Andrea Ficke presents the PurPest concept and the need for this technology to detect economically important pests and pathogens impairing food...

On the 7^th of November 2024, the PurPest workpackage 6 team from INIAV, Andrea Ficke and Birgitte Henriksen from NIBIO, met virtually to discuss PurPest’s ongoing communication activities and strategies to disseminate the project's results moving forward.

On October 24^th, the second PurPest Stakeholder meeting took place with representatives from Plant Health Inspection Services, the pinewood forestry sector, the European Plant Protection Organization, Nursery associations, sensor and software developers, and the National Plant Protection Organizations. The latest progress of the project was discussed, focusing on the first version of...