On 18 and 19 February 2025, 80 participants from nine countries met at the JKI site in Braunschweig (Messeweg) for the 11th PPPHI symposium of the series ‘Science meets legislation’. The face-to-face event has been held regularly every two years since 2005 with a changing thematic focus (apart from an interruption due to the pandemic) and is traditionally organised jointly by the German Society of Phytomedicine (DPG) and the Julius Kühn-Institute (JKI). The motto of this year's event was ‘Scientific Innovations and Regulatory Challenges in Biological Control’.

The control of pathogens and diseases using natural antagonists or natural substances is becoming more and more  important  especially in view of the  demand to reduce the use of synthetic pesticides, the development of resistance of harmful organisms to active substances and the introduction of new pathogens due to climate change and trade. ‘The biocontrol sector is also known for  methods and substances that are highly selective, thus protecting non-target organisms and reducing the impact on  functional biodiversity of agricultural ecosystems,’ said Prof Dr Johannes Jehle, Head of the JKI Institute for Biological Control and organiser of the conference.

At the beginning, JKI President Prof Dr Frank Ordon welcomed the international guests and referred to the long tradition of beneficial insect research at the JKI. The first experiments with ichneumon wasps were documented as early as 1911 in Berlin at the Biologische Reichsanstalt, one of the predecessor institutions of the Biologische Bundesanstalt (BBA) and thus of today's Julius Kühn Institute. Prof Dr Annette Reineke, who teaches at the University of Geisenheim, gave the welcoming speech on behalf of the Phytomedical Society. 

Over the last two decades, considerable progress has been made in  research and development, regulation and commercialisation of biological pesticides. Nevertheless, the use of biological agents must be further increased and accelerated in order to achieve the UN Sustainable Development Goals, the goals of the EU Farm-to-Fork Strategy and similarly ambitious goals in many other countries, and to reduce the negative impact of pesticide use on the environment worldwide.

Keynote speaker Prof Dr Christian Huyghe, Scientific Director of INRAE, also made this clear in his speech. He called for a rethink of plant protection strategies and argued in favour of a systemic approach that focuses more on the prevention of diseases than on their subsequent control, such as management measures, strengthening functional biodiversity, resistance breeding, new cultivation systems and biological plant protection.

The topics of this year's PPPHI symposium ranged from new developments in the use of genome sequencing of microorganisms in the authorisation process to the use of artificial intelligence tools in assessment tasks. They also dealt with reconciling the different needs of research, development, regulation and application as well as specific authorisation criteria for biological plant protection products in terms of efficacy and selectivity.

Background:
Worldwide, biological control of plant pests and diseases is recognised as a key component in the transformation of agricultural production systems towards more resilient and sustainable crop production. By using natural resources, from naturally occurring antagonists to industrially produced biological control agents, the use of synthetic chemical pesticides can be reduced.

The main objective of the 11th PPPHI Symposium was the exchange of knowledge 

• to determine research needs
• on the potential and limitations of the use of microorganisms as biocontrol agents
• on the selectivity and effectiveness of biological control
• on perspectives for the successful implementation of biological pest control in production

For further information, please see the conference programme and leaflet at

https://ppphi.plant-protection.net/

https://ppphi.plant-protection.net/fileadmin/Tagungen/PPPHE/2025/2025_PPPHI_Flyer.pdf