NeutraWeed seminar and round table highlight sustainable approaches to Weed-Crop Coexistence

How can ecological principles and digital technologies transform weed management? And can they work together to do so? These were the key questions explored during the NeutraWeed seminar and round table Weed-Crop Coexistence: Innovation in Sustainable Weed Management, held on 7 July 2026 at INIA-CSIC in Madrid.

The speakers at the event. From left: Remedios Alarcón Víllora (IMIDRA), Eva Hernández Plaza (INIA-CSIC), María Arias Martín (INIA-CSIC), Paola Cassiano (Sant’Anna School of Advanced Studies), Dionisio Andújar (CAR-CSIC). 

The hybrid event brought together 68 participants from 4 countries (Spain, Italy, Argentina and Mexico), with researchers, advisors, farmers and students, joining both in person and online to discuss innovative strategies for promoting weed-crop coexistence in Mediterranean agroecosystems.

Organised by NeutraWeed partners National Institute for Agricultural and Food Research and Technology (INIA-CSIC), the Centre for Automation and Robotics (CAR-CSIC), the Madrid Institute for Rural, Agricultural and Food Research and Development (IMIDRA), and the Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies, the seminar showcased the latest research on sustainable weed management from both ecological and technological perspectives. 

The presentations introduced the concept of Neutral Weed Communities and the objectives of the NeutraWeed project, highlighting how increasing arable weed diversity can contribute to more resilient agricultural systems. Speakers also presented strategies for establishing weed communities that reduce competition with crops while supporting biodiversity, predictive models to improve weed management decisions in Mediterranean agroecosystems, and the growing role of robotics and artificial intelligence in enabling more precise and sustainable weed control.

ALARCON VILLORA_Estrategias diversificación manejo sostenible cultivos herbáceos en secano.

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Andujar D_Robotics for Neutral Weed Communities.pdf

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Arias M._Ecofisiologia y modelización de la emergencia de malas hierbas.pdf

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Cassiano P_Neutral Weed Communities.pdf

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The seminar was followed by a lively one-hour round table discussion focusing on the opportunities and challenges of integrating robotics and artificial intelligence into ecological weed management. Participants agreed that technological innovation can play a key role in supporting more sustainable farming, provided it is combined with ecological knowledge and adapted to farmers' practical needs. The discussion also highlighted the importance of interdisciplinary collaboration to develop solutions that simultaneously enhance crop productivity, biodiversity conservation and environmental sustainability.

A summary of the main outcomes of the round table will be published soon on this website. The recording of the seminar is already available online at this link, whilst the speakers’ presentations can be downloaded at the bottom of this page.

The event confirmed the growing interest in approaches that combine ecological principles with digital technologies to make weed management more resilient and sustainable. The NeutraWeed coordinator warmly thanks all speakers and participants for their valuable contributions and looks forward to continuing this collaborative dialogue on the future of sustainable weed management.