Vegetable ozone therapy crops sanitized naturally from seed to feed
Crop pests and disease have serious consequences for agriculture, in terms of economic losses and wastefulness of resources. In addition, according to the FAO, transboundary plant pests and diseases – growing in the last years because of globalization, trade and climate change, as well as reduced resilience in production systems due to decades of agricultural intensification - affect food crops, threatening food security. Agriculture is to be safe, healthy and sustainable, so it is essential to have healthy crops; they play a role in producing sufficient quantities of healthy foods and contribute to the quality of life.OXIR is an innovative technology for spraying aqueous ozone (O3) for disease control and sanitation of greenhouse crops, taking advantage of the powerful oxidation-based (hence non-selective) anti-pathogen action of ozone. OXIR offers two configurations adaptable to users’ needs a fixed and a mobile prototype, that will allow European farmers saving €6.000,00/ha/year due to reductions in chemicals and labour. Currently, existing solutions to fight crop pests and diseases include synthetic chemical pesticides – posing serious environmental concerns - and bio-pesticides – that are not strongly effective, as their pest spectrum is narrow. Compared to these solutions, OXIR is highly efficient against fungi and bacteria (85-99% removal) and viruses (90-99%); costs-effective: OXIR treatment saves working time (1 min. treatment; 20 min. safety interval) compared to biopesticides and chemicals; environmentally sustainable: OXIR is IPM compatible, sustainable, and does not leave polluting residues. The goal of the Phase 2 project is to upgrade OXIR from its current preproduction state to market readiness and develop the first commercial product.