Wrapping up the RELACS project: Policy roadmaps, videos & other publications

The RELACS project, which aims at finding alternatives to contentious inputs in organic farming, came to an end on 29 April. We would like to thank all actors involved for turning great ideas into reality.

Wrapping everything up, the project released nine new scientific papers abstracts, four practice abstracts, one news story, three roadmaps and one new video.

We developed three policy roadmaps that still needs to be approved by the European Commission:

• A European roadmap for reducing contentious inputs used in livestock production (antibiotics, anthelmintics, vitamins);
• A European roadmap for phasing-in new nutrient sources;
• A European roadmap for reducing contentious plant protection products (copper, mineral oil).

For practitioners, the following practices abstracts are newly available on:

• Fertilisers
  Phosphorus sources for organic agriculture
  Nitrogen efficiency of organic fertilisers
• Anthelmintics
  Duddingtonia flagrans: biocontrol fungus for reducing the use of anthelmintics
• Copper
  Copper reduction strategies in tomato production

The following scientific publications are now available:

• From the lab to the farm: using a multi-actor approach to foster sustainable parasite control (Athanasiadou et al., 2021),
• Evaluating the impact of essential oils on bovine mammary alveolar tissue cells in vitro (Chylinski et al., 2021),
• Current use of contentious inputs in European organic animal production (Athanasiadou et al., 2021),
• Selecting botanicals for mastitis control: efficacy and safety characterization of essential oils (Tavares et al., 2021),
• Current use of contentious inputs in European organic animal production (Athanasiadou et al., 2021),
• Duddingtonia flagrans: a promising biocontrol agent for gastrointestinal nematodes (Maurer et al., 2021),
• Revision of vitamin E recommendations for ruminants in organic agriculture (Steinshamn et al., 2021),
• Animal health and welfare planning for European organic dairy herds – development and expansion (Walkenhorst et al., 2021),
• In vitro testing of plant extracts and essential oils as antimicrobials in organic farming (Walkenhorst et al., 2021).

Moreover, the last news story is available now. On-farm trials on alternatives to anthelmintics during the RELACS project, explain the trials done by farmers interested in testing alternative parasite control strategies.

Last but not least, do not miss the latest video on the vibrational signal in orchards as a control tool.

Visit the RELACS website to learn more and revisit the project’s developments on Twitter and Facebook using @RELACSeu and #RELACSeu. The project will keep posting on social media until autumn 2022.