6th European Workshop on Plant Protection Equipment Inspections - SPISE 6 Workshop –
The SPISE 6 Workshop took place at Barcelona, Spain, on 13 to 15 September 2016. About 100 participants from 27 European Countries and from Extra-European Countries (China and Iraq) took part. The locally organisation was under the responsibility of the Escola Superior d’Agricultura de Barcelona, Universitat Politécnica de Catalunya (UPC), Spain. The workshop site was the Campus del Baix Llobregat, Castelldefels. The Workshop was held by the SPISE Working Group (SWG), to which representatives from Belgium, Germany, France, Italy and the Netherlands belong, in collaboration with the Escola Superior d’Agricultura de Barcelona, Agricultural Ministry and the Generalitat of Catalonia.
The 6th edition of SPISE workshop covered important aspects: The recently published harmonized EN ISO 16122 for inspection of sprayers in use, and the deadline according the EU Directive 2009/128/EC – November 26th 2016 – for the accomplishment of the official mandate. It was an interesting opportunity to evaluate the present situation on MS and to understand the difficulties encountered and the necessary actions needed to solve them. It was also possible for the participants to evaluate and discuss about the recently entered in force harmonized standard on the inspections of sprayers used in greenhouse (ISO EN 16122-4)
The Workshop began with a round table session, where a representative from the Commission (P. Kiss) made a presentation on “Current implementation of inspections of pesticide application equipment in the EU following SUD requirements”. Further speakers reported on “Status Quo of inspection in EU: The results of a SPISE enquiry” ( H.Wehmann –JKI-DE) “The PAE inspection in Spain and Catalonia” (A. Goutan, Generalitat of Catalonia - ES), “The experience of the mandatory sprayers inspection in Greece” (T. Balafoutis, University of Athens- GR), “The point of view of a farmer” (C. González, COPACOGECA-ES) and “The advantage of sprayer inspection from the dealer’s point of view” (E. Hogervorst, CLIMMAR- NL).
The attendance and the involvement and interest of Ms. Kiss as new representative from DG SANTE are seen as a sign of recognition for the work done by SPISE.
The content of the specific following 7 sessions was prepared by the Technical Working Groups (TWGs) which were installed at the SPISE 4 workshop at Lana in 2014. In detail the following sessions were offered:
Session 1: Inspection of brand new sprayers (TWG 1)
Chairmen: E. Gil, C. Schulze-Stentrop
Session 2: Definition of a common risk assessment procedure for Pesticide Application Equipment (PAE) to be exempted from the inspection (TWG 2)
Chairmen: B. Huyghebaert, N. Bjugstad
Session 3: Sprayer inspection harmonised test methods (TWG 3)
Chairmen: J.-P. Douzals, V. Polvêche
Session 4: “Certification” of the Workshop activity (quality assurance) included the certification of devices/ instruments used for the inspections (TWG 4)
Chairmen: J. Kole, P. Harašta
Session 5: Harmonise the training of the inspectors to achieve the same professional level of the inspections (TWG 5)
Chairmen: E. Nilsson, H. Kramer, H. Wehmann
Session 6: Present experiences and problems in inspections activities
Chairmen: E. Gil, H. Kramer, J. Kole
Session 7: SPISE TWG activities and SPISE advice on PAE not yet considered by harmonised Standards
Chairmen: J. Wegener, P. Balsari
More than 40 presentations from the participants plus 7 posters showed the on going activities in the Member States and the current situation regarding the introduction of plant protection equipment mandatory inspections in the MS.
The attending countries were able to report on the present activities and was underlined the installation of the inspection systems in all MS.
During the discussions assigned to each session it was determined repeatedly that due to different reasons most of MS cannot guarantee to complete the first inspection of all PAE in professional use by the deadline of 26th of November 2016.
As also mentioned in the frame of the 5th SPISE Workshop there is a need for specific advices to fulfil the requirements of the Directive 2009/128/EC (Sustainable Use Directive) that should be implemented and applied. In the following it was decided to prepare “SPISE Advices” to each of the issues considered by the SPISE TWGs. In the meantime the first Advices are published and free downloadable from the SPISE Website.
The second day was dedicated to practical demonstration of the sprayers’ inspections activities with particular effort to the inspections of sprayers used in greenhouse.
The first demonstration was held at the Finca Agustí farm, where are cultivated outdoor vegetables as celery and tomatoes. The participants were divided in three groups and were invited to follow/conduct inspections on a field crop sprayer, an orchard sprayer and also an orchard sprayer equipped with a spray gun. For this purpose the colleagues of UPC and Agricultural Mechanization Centre (CMA) developed a special test report which was explained and filled in step by step by appointed tutors.
The next demonstration was at the company of Agromillora Iberia, which is an international nursery dedicated to the production of fruit and olives trees. The focus here was laying on the inspection of sprayers for greenhouse application following the new harmonized standard (ISO EN 16122). Also here a specific test report prepared by UPC and CMA was the basis for the group work. Furthermore the groups participated in a presentation of a special fogger equipment and followed a guided tour through the greenhouses of the company. At the end of the demonstration a general discussion on this new standardized inspection methodology was held and operative problems underlined.
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