Plant Research International is, together with Wageningen University and PPO, strong in production systems, models, and sustainable crop protection methods. This strength is used to increase the sustainability of agricultural systems. Society makes new demands that are also governed by biobased economy, competing claims, and climate change. We aim at the integration of societal, biological and environmental factors within sustainable production systems. The efficiency of the utilisation of natural resources (land, water, nutrients) must be optimised. A lot of experimental and model work is carried out to be able to take the right decisions.
We are strong in genetic knowledge and new functional (post)genomics technologies and combine that expertise from gene to ecology. This combination leads to the Wageningen form of systems biology (from gene to ecosystem).
A more efficient and yet sustainable crop protection needs special attention. Knowledge about the resistance of plants and knowledge about the interaction between plants, their enemies and the antagonists of their enemies will remain a focus of our research.
There is a need for innovative agrosystems that create room for new economic carriers that are adapted to climate changes. We have special expertise in the field of biodiversity, multifunctional land use, and in international projects. This knowledge can be utillised for developing international scenarios in which various land use functions (food production, primary production, production for the biobased economy, nature, recreation) are incorporated.
The rapid world-wide climate change urges us to actively search for ways for growing sufficient and good crops also under the new climatological conditions. The effects on world food supply would otherwise be dramatic.
Our research yields insight into the possibilities of plants to survive under extreme climatological conditions such as drought and high temperatures. We also seek to clarify the insight into the interactions between plants and their enemies such as fungi and insects to enable the simpler development of plant varieties that are resistant against new pests and diseases.
Worldwide, cropping systems will have to be adjusted. We develop agrosystems that enable ample and good quality production under new climatological conditions. The demand side - consumers, industry and authorities -, the possibilities of plants, and the possibilities of other sustainable resources are important inputs for our organisation.