24 Nov. - 26 Nov. 2025
One Crop Health: Next generation crop protection
The One Crop Health project integrates the latest advances in agri-tech, biotechnology, ecology, and data sciences to reduce reliance on pesticides in agroecosystems.
One Crop Health for Next-Generation Crop Protection is a research consortium led by the University of Copenhagen, with partners at Aarhus University, Rothamsted Research, and the University of Sheffield. Funded by the Novo Nordisk Foundation and running from 2024 to 2029, the project aims to reduce pesticide use in cropping systems through innovative, sustainable approaches.
Inspired by the One Health concept from human health, the project promotes a holistic One Crop Health framework that connects plant, soil, and agroecosystem health. By combining agroecological practices with cutting-edge technologies in data science, robotics, and ecology, the team will develop tools for early detection and prediction of pest, weed, and disease outbreaks.
The goal is to minimize chemical interventions, enhance biodiversity, improve soil health, and build resilient cropping systems for a more sustainable agricultural future.
The following research hypotheses will be addressed in the project:
- Spatial and temporal variance in pest pressure between farms are explained by a combination of environmental (weather, landscape context, soil health, provision of regulating ecosystem services) and management variables (crop diversity, tillage, intensity of inputs).
- Timely monitoring and surveillance of pest populations will reduce unnecessary pesticide inputs; potential reductions will be greatest on farms with low baseline populations.
- Data-driven integration of the environmental and management factors driving the interacting population dynamics of pest groups, and associated strategies for their prevention, detection, prediction and control will reveal optimal, site-specific One Crop Health solutions at the field, farm, region and country levels.
WP1: Crop Health Epidemiology: Farm-scale monitoring of pests and biodiversity
The population dynamics, epidemiology, and crop impacts of pests and their symbionts are shaped by biological, environmental, and management processes across field to landscape scales. In WP1, national farm networks in Denmark and the UK will collect biological, environmental, and management data to track crop threats and biodiversity. Using an “every field as an experiment” approach, we aim to generate robust epidemiological models to understand the interactions driving crop health at multiple scales.
WP Coordinator: Andrea Cavalieri (UCPH)
Task 1.1 Establish farm networks.
Task 1.2 Annual biological monitoring.
Task 1.3 Collection of environmental and management data.
Task 1.4 Spatio-temporal dynamics and epidemiology of pests and beneficials in agroecosystems.
Task 1.5 Establish Pioneer Farms.
WP2: Experimental farm platform for One Crop Health
WP2 complements WP1 by conducting large-scale, long-term field experiments to enable high-resolution data collection for developing digital twins and understanding pest dynamics. These experiments will support research on disruptive cropping systems, mechanistic pest-environment interactions, and testing new technologies for pest detection and control, with Højbakkegård and Rothamsted serving as key experimental platforms.
WP Coordinator: Andrea Cavalieri (UCPH)
Task 2.1 Establish large-scale field experiments
WP3: Digital twins, tools and infrastructure for One Crop Health
WP3 focuses on developing digital twin technologies to enable precise, real-time crop health interventions by integrating pest monitoring, outbreak prediction, and targeted responses. The research distinguishes between digital models, shadows, and twins to guide the creation of tools that simulate complex crop health systems and their trade-offs.
WP coordinator: Sune Darkner (UCPH)
Task 3.1 Field-scale digital models.
Task 3.2 Towards digital twins of large-scale field experiments
Task 3.3 Data infrastructure and data management.
WP4: Next generation interventions for One Crop Health
WP4 includes 12 PhD projects across five partner institutions, aimed at training future scientists in systems-based approaches to sustainable agriculture. Each student will be supervised jointly by Danish and UK researchers, promoting international collaboration and mobility. The program will offer workshops, training, and networking opportunities, fostering an interdisciplinary and strategic research environment that prepares students for diverse career paths.
WP coordinator: Daniela Mutwil-Anderwald (UCPH)
Project: Smart weeding: Ecologically guided precision management of arable plant biodiversity
PhD student: Matthew Perry
Main supervisor: David Comont
Project: Impacts of agronomic practices on wheat stem diseases
PhD student: Bela Fistric
Main supervisor: Jon West
Project: Developing image processing and machine learning tools for automatic identification and quantification of cabbage stem flea beetle pressure
PhD student: Lawrence Still
Main supervisor: Patry Ortega-Ramos
Project: Towards a mechanistic understanding of disease suppressive soils
PhD student: Kelis Fisher
Main supervisor: Tim Daniell
Project: Using environmental DNA to assess soil health bioindicators and their relationship to crop nutrition and production under different agricultural regimes.
PhD student: Sabina Schneider
Main supervisor: Penny Watt
Project: The impact of functional biodiversity in insect-weed interaction
PhD student: Caroline Bayer Frøhling
Main supervisor: Stine Kramer Jacobsen
Project: Harnessing eDNA for surveillance and management of agro-biodiversity
PhD student: Zhao Li
Main supervisor: Natasha de Vere
Project: Breaking the bank: Weed seed decay in arable soils
PhD student: Leon Bedekovic Arnaut
Main supervisor: Paul Neve
Project: The role of cropping system diversification supporting weed-arthropod interactions, biodiversity and ecosystem
services in arable fields.
PhD student: Suresh Banisetti
Main supervisors: Bo Melander and Claus Rasmussen
Project: Untapping belowground plant interactions for optimal plant defence in crops.
PhD student: Amanda Thystrup
Main supervisors: Michael Kristensen and Benjamin Fuchs
Project: Computer Vision for Monitoring of Pests, Weeds and Beneficials in Agricultural Fields
PhD student: N.A.
Main supervisor: Kim Steenstrup Pedersen
Project: Mechanistic co-simulation of Insects, Weeds and Plant Infestation in Agricultural Fields
PhD student: N.A.
Main supervisor: Sune Darkner
The following partners are part of the project
Rothamsted Research, UK
- Jonathan Storkey, Prof.
- David Comont
- Jon West, Prof.
- Tim Mauchline
- Patry Ortega-Ramos
- Samantha Cook
Sheffield University, UK
- Tim Daniell, Prof.
- Penny Watt
Aarhus University, Denmark
- Bo Melander, Prof.
- Claus Rasmussen
- Michael Kristensen
- Benjamin Fuchs
Internal participants
| Name | Title | Phone | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Search in Name | Search in Title | Search in Phone | |
| Andrea Cavalieri | Special Consultant | +4535323720 | |
| Caroline Bayer Frøhling | PhD Fellow | +4535333914 | |
| Guy Robert Yeoman Coleman | Postdoc | ||
| Ida Marie Bergman Rasmussen | Academic Officer | +4535332514 | |
| Jesper Svensgaard | Team Manager | +4535334285 | |
| Jesper Cairo Westergaard | IT Officer, FU | +4535332347 | |
| Kim Steenstrup Pedersen | Professor | +4535321455 | |
| Kristine Groth Kirkensgaard | Special Consultant | +4535332431 | |
| Leon Bedekovic Arnaut | PhD Fellow | +4535329993 | |
| Natasha de Vere | Professor | +4535324653 | |
| Paul Neve | Professor | +4535322161 | |
| René Havmand | Academic Research Staff | +4535330311 | |
| Stine Kramer Jacobsen | Associate Professor | +4535332675 | |
| Sune Darkner | Professor | +4535335702 | |
| Zhao Li | PhD Fellow | +4535321418 |
Contact
 |
Project leader Paul Neve Mail: pbneve@plen.ku.dk Phone: +45 3532 2161 |
 |
Project manager Daniela Mutwil-Anderwald Mail: daniela@plen.ku.dk Phone: +45 3533 3257 |
 |
Research coordinator Andrea Cavalieri Mail: anca@plen.ku.dk Phone: +45 3532 3720 |
Funded by
One Crop Health: Next generation crop protection has received a six year funding from the Novo Nordisk Foundation.
Grant number: NNF23OC0081052
Period: January 2024 - January 2030
