Excalibur Round Table on “Perspectives of multifunctional microbial-based products in agriculture”

2021, Events, News&Events

Excalibur Round Table on “Perspectives of multifunctional microbial-based products in agriculture”

One of the most important activities during the General Assembly was the Round Table entitled “Perspectives of multifunctional microbial-based products in agriculture”, moderated by Prof. Eligio Malusà. About 60 relevant external stakeholders and advisors joined the event, including Dr. Jeremy Pinte as a representative of the European DG-GROW and DG-SANTE and Dr. Manuele Ricci as a representative of the European European Biostimulants Industry Council (EBIC) as invited speakers.

The main topic started from the assumption that the current EU legislative framework on fertilizers, the “Fertilising Products Regulation (FPR)” (EU Reg. n.1009/2019) is not exhaustive in terms of allowed groups of microorganisms, having only four included in the regulation list (Azotobacter spp., Mycorrhizal fungi, Rhizobium spp. and Azospirillum spp.). The main topics of the debate focused on:

  • How can new organisms be added to the FPR list?
  • The “multiple-use” concept for microbial biostimulants