Healthcare and Science thomsonreuters.com

Natural remedies are becoming increasingly important in scientific development and my area of expertise is how we can reduce the dependency of chemical pesticides on crop production.

I started my studies in agricultural engineering and began to specialize in environmental issues — crop science is perfect for my area of research. As a scientist, I want to combine the best protocols and practices to the management of crop plants and explore options other than chemical enhancement. This is exceptionally difficult because chemical crop control is reliable, effective and easy for farmers to use, so any natural option has to compete with these huge advantages.

A growing public awareness of unwanted side effects from synthetic herbicide applications is pushing the search for alternative weed management methods. By applying natural products and raising awareness of their effectiveness, I want to make treatment of crops more eco- and toxically friendly. One possible option is the cultivation of crop plants that can defend themselves by release of natural products, like allelochemicals, to suppress competing weeds.

If this technique becomes effective we would drastically reduce the amount of pesticides used in agriculture and therefore restrict the contamination of the soil of water above and below ground.