Reducing the use of pesticides is a top concern for governments throughout Europe due to the negative impact they have on human health and the natural environment. Unfortunately, this is a challenging challenge to overcome since pesticides are so integral to the agri-food industries in these countries. We argue that agricultural research is crucial here and that, to have any real impact on pesticide use, it must move to a pesticide-free paradigm. In this essay, we explain the rationale for this paradigm shift and the types of research that will benefit from using it. Supporting the development of public policies but instead private initiatives for both the transition towards pisciculture; redesigning crop growth system is a system to strengthen prophylaxis; diversifying biocontrol strategies as well as associated business models; broadening the context of plant breeding to have included functional biodiversity but also evolutionary ecology concepts; establishing new objectives for agricultural machinery and digital technologies; these are the five research fronts related to these five strategies. In order to create the systemic and connected innovations necessary to drastically cut down on pesticide usage, the appropriate research initiatives must be coordinated with one another. We thus underline the necessity for interdisciplinary research programmers and present examples of cross-cutting goals that integrate multiple fronts. This allows us to give a broad framework for future studies aimed at achieving environmentally sound farming practices