On May 29, 2025, George Kokkinos, President of NILEAS, took part in the conference “Innovative Plant Protection and Environment”, organised by the Agricultural University of Athens. In his presentation, titled “Plant Protection Issues of Intense Interest,” he noted that the implementation of the European Green Deal is making plant protection more challenging for growers by narrowing their tools. Consequently, the emphasis should shift to prevention. He argued that Producer Groups can effectively manage pests and diseases by adopting Integrated Pest Management (IPM) and Smart Agriculture, thereby maximizing yield with lower environmental impacts, reduced production costs, and high product quality. 

Additionally, he presented AgriDataValue Project, that aims to create a digital platform that integrates real-time data from ground sensors and agrometeorological stations with multispectral images from satellites and drones, supporting machine learning models and smart agriculture applications. 

He highlighted that smart agriculture aids crop protection in traditional Greek olive farming by using data-driven insights to enable early detection and targeted interventions against pests and diseases, thereby reducing reliance on traditional, broad-spectrum pesticides and enhancing overall sustainability.  

The event was attended by more than 350 participants, including advisors, members of the scientific community, and undergraduate and postgraduate students.