Scientific visit @ ILVO
About ILVO
The Flanders Research Institute for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, ILVO in short, is one of Belgium's leading scientific research institutes, dedicated to sustainable and innovative agriculture, horticulture, and food production. ILVO's research spans plant science, animal sciences, agriculture and society, and technology & food science which together cover the full breadth of challenges facing a sustainable and future-proof agri-food system.
The institute operates across multiple sites and shares an extensive research infrastructure, including over 200 hectares of trial fields, more than 15,000 m² of experimental greenhouses, and cutting-edge drone, robot, and sensor technology for precision agriculture. With over 650 employees, ILVO's Plant Sciences unit alone brings together nearly 220 researchers working across a range of disciplines.
Find out more at the ILVO website.
Soil health & stress management
ILVO's researchers tackle soil health through a data-driven lens, using innovative techniques such as soil scans, sensors, remote sensing, and smart data integration to guide sustainable soil management. For example, ILVO developed a region-wide map of organic carbon in Flemish topsoils using satellite data and AI technology in the ENVISION project, giving farmers and policymakers an entirely new tool for targeted soil interventions. More recently, five years of pan-European EJP SOIL research, partly led by ILVO, generated clear guidance on climate-smart soil management, covering carbon sequestration, erosion prevention, and water resilience.
Crop Protection: Strategies against pests and pathogens
ILVO actively supports a bio-based approach to plant health, covering acarology, bacteriology, entomology, mycology, nematology, and virology, with a focus on reliable identification of pathogens, a deeper understanding of plant-pathogen interactions, and the development of alternative crop protection st
rategies using integrated pest management. Alongside this, ILVO is developing AI-powered robotics capable of recognizing and removing unwanted plants, bringing digital engineering into the future of weed control.
Building resilience through plant breeding and plant modification
Using both classical and the latest molecular breeding techniques, ILVO develops new cultivars with improved resistance to disease, drought, and frost, translating fundamental genetic insights into real-world agricultural solutions. Creating added value in crops through both classical and innovative breeding techniques is a core ambition, with a deeper understanding of underlying biological processes helping to advance both breeding outcomes and plant health knowledge. ILVO runs its own breeding programs in garden roses, azaleas, and woody ornamentals, with notable results including the Aiko series of azaleas, known for their distinctive flower shape and extended shelf life, and breakthrough Hydrangea paniculata cultivars such as Pinky-Winky and Bobo.
Understanding plant reactions to tomorrow's challenges
ILVO's researchers study gene characteristics, plant reactions to environmental factors, population diversity, and soil characteristics to build a comprehensive picture of how crops will perform under future growing conditions, informing both breeding strategies and sustainable production systems. A key infrastructure enabling this work is HYDRAS: ILVO's state-of-the-art multi-sensor, drought-controlled field phenotyping platform, designed to provide insight into plant responses to drought both above and below ground in a realistic crop production environment.
