With the video series Field Trip, Pierre Girard has initiated a discovery tour of agricultural scientific research across Europe, visiting members of the European Research Alliance “Towards chemical pesticide-free agriculture” to answer the following question: how are the 35 research organisations of the Alliance and their partners joining forces to provide scientific support for the ambitious target set by the European Commission of halving the use of pesticides by 2030? The “Prix Reporters d’Espoirs” rewards Pierre Girard's ambitious and successful project to introduce the general public to the solutions developed by the scientists of the Alliance, who are working together to reduce the use of pesticides in agriculture. The members of the Alliance warmly congratulate Pierre Girard on bringing to a wide audience the work of the Alliance through innovative and informative videos.

In short 10-minute videos, Pierre Girard highlights experiments being carried out by Alliance members. From France (INRAE) to Romania (USAMV Bucarest), via Hungary (ÖMKI), Switzerland (Agroscope and FiBL), Germany (JKI), Denmark (Aarhus University) and Belgium (Biobest), Field Trip allows any curious person to discover a wide range of solutions developed by scientists, such as the design of agroecological systems, including diversified crop rotation, the development of precision farming and biocontrol, the study of plant microbiome, plant breeding, or even the introduction of risk mitigation measures for farmers who implement innovative solutions. What makes the strength of these research projects is that most of them have been co-constructed with farmers.

The series was launched in June 2022 during the European Scientific Conference “Towards Pesticide Free Agriculture” held by INRAE in Dijon, under the French Presidency of the EU and with the support of the Alliance. After visiting seven members of the Alliance, Pierre Girard ended the first year of Field Trip in Uppsala in May 2023, where the Alliance held its second General Assembly and organised, through its member SLU, the European scientific conference "Future of Crop Protection", under the auspices of the Swedish Presidency of the EU.

All episodes of the Field Trip series are available on Pierre Girard's YouTube channel.

Stay tuned! Field Trip will continue to explore European scientific research into pesticide-free agriculture, visiting Alliance members in Italy (University of Bologna), Sweden (SLU) and Croatia (University of Zagreb).