GFP 2012 was the 42nd congress organized by the French Group of Pesticide research (“Groupe Francais des Pesticides”, GFP), an association created in 1977 by a group of scientists from several French universities and research institutes. Initially, this conference was held twice a year, but nowadays, the adopted rhythm is once a year over a period of 3 days, usually in May. All scientific and technical aspects of the synthesis, reactivity, mode of action, toxicology, ecotoxicology, and environmental fate of pesticides are discussed. In this special issue, ESPR publishes 17 articles that are based on oral presentations at GFP 2012 in Poitiers. It covers the latest advances in the field of pesticide research with a special focus on innovative strategies for plant protection. This key theme was chosen by the organizing team according to the main research conducted in the location hosting the conference, namely, original strategies to confer systemicity to nonmobile compounds. The purpose of this research is to improve the bioavailability of active compounds, thereby reducing the quantity of pesticides used and pollution. It also aims at managing parasites that remain uncontrolled because of their location, e.g., fungi responsible for grapevine trunk diseases. In 2008, France, which is the fourth largest market, behind the USA, Brazil, and Japan, has implemented an action plan called “Ecophyto”. The Ecophyto plan embodies the commitment given by the authorities, industry professionals, and representatives of civil society to cut the nationwide use of pesticides by 50 % within 10 years, if possible (Ministere de l’Agriculture et de la Peche 2008). The most notable goal of Ecophyto is to reduce the dependency of farms on plant protection products, without affecting agricultural yields and maintaining high levels both in terms of quality and quantity. In this context, the aim of the conference was to provide some answers to current societal challenges, i.e., producing larger amounts of food for an exponentially growing population while reducing agronomic inputs for pest and weed control, thereby reducing pollution as well as potential toxicity to the environment or human health. In order to achieve these various objectives, GFP 2012 was organized in four sessions as follows: