The EU citriculture is threatened by the emerging disease Huanglongbing (HLB, also known as Greening), considered the most devastating citrus disease due to its rapid dispersal, severity and fast progression of symptoms, huge losses in fruit production and quality, cost and difficulty of preventing new infections, lack of resistant citrus varieties and economically feasible treatments for infected trees, and absence of durable control mechanisms. HLB generates multimillion economic losses to citrus industry. Now it is time to start the research in the EU because the vector Trioza erytreae has been detected and is spreading in Spain and Portugal. The overarching objective of Pre-HLB is to develop and implement a holistic contingency plan to protect the citrus sector in the EU from HLB disease drivers and to co-create new solutions to manage the disease through a multidisciplinary approach and in collaboration with experienced partners from America and Asia. The Pre-HLB work plan includes three specific objectives to monitor progress: a) Pre-HLB preventive actions and development of mid-term tools will limit HLB potential introduction, reducing the potential economic impact in EU (estimated in 7.7 billion euros) by 40% b) The consortium will contribute to improve current HLB surveillance, contingency and control strategies. Up to 100,000Ha of citrus cropping area will be monitored to obtain field information on potential HLB infection and the dynamics of the vector in the subareas of highest risk, thus limiting disease/infestation spread. c) Excellent European research centres will join forces to fill research gaps in vector biology, host/vector/pathogen interactions, Aurantioideae genetics and genomics, as well as to develop new biotechnological tools, such as new effectors, metabolites, bio-stimulants and biopesticides.Results will identify HLB-resistance traits and will allow to generate long-term resistance.This is one major milestone in the field of citriculture.

EcoStack will provide European farmers with the knowledge and tools needed to maximise ecosystem services for the production of crops, while minimising environmental impacts of agriculture and ensuring the profitability of farming. The objectives will be achieved by stacking ecosystem services to enhance synergistically the effective interplay of the service providers. Previous attempts at achieving this have been ineffective due to uncertainty of pollinator and natural enemy exchange between crop types and habitats, as well as the reluctance of growers to establish refugia for natural enemies and pollinators. In EcoStack we will focus on the management of beneficial organisms within the field, rather than trying to manage the external influx. We will make full use of increased knowledge of interactions between trophic levels (microbe-plant-herbivore-natural enemy / pollinator), and will manage and assess functional biodiversity benefits at different levels (within and between species, fields, landscapes), and stack them for maximizing farmer benefits and system resilience. Our research covers: conventional and organic cropping systems; arable, horticultural and permanent crops; pastoral and mixed systems, and all pedoclimatic production zones of Europe. Specific focus is on oilseed rape, wheat, and potato; field tomato; orchards (olive, fruit trees) and vineyards, and grassland/pastures. Advanced molecular and other technical tools are used to determine source populations of beneficial organisms, and to monitor and record movements and interactions. A comprehensive work-package will address relevant socio-economic questions including farmer uptake, and a specific tool will be developed based on precision agriculture data to allow farmers to link inputs (including functional biodiversity) to output (yield maps), based on data from their own fields. We have access to comprehensive farm networks covering all of Europe, for implementing and demonstrating our results.