The Role of Research, Communication, and Education for a Sustainable Use of Pesticides

Sustainable agriculture is not the result of a simple linear, one-way process that goes from the scientific production of knowledge to its production application, but the result of complex "systemic interactions" between different subjects and institutions involved in various ways in the production and dissemination of knowledge and its incorporation into innovative solutions applicable. This is why in the last few years agricultural sustainability and sustainable use of pesticide have been subject of important regulatory interventions and research projects that stimulated a search for new approaches and design systems for knowledge transfer. Innovation and networks have also gained increasing attention for their role in enhancing knowledge and interaction between stakeholders. In this chapter we will focus on: o the contribute of policy in knowledge enhance and promotion of the adoption of innovation in agriculture, o lessons learnt from innovative project that considers the diffusion of a culture of prevention and anticipation as the most appropriate tool to tackle the management of risks on health and the environment, o the importance of communication and social interaction for sharing experiences and transmitting information, and o the importance of a flexible education system and training tools in supporting a knowledge system perception-oriented, context-specific, more participative that involve different factors and different types of knowledge.