Natural substances are an important component of organic plant protection strategies, mainly in perennial crops. Only a small number of products and substances are authorised for plant protection in organic production. Organic farming constantly evolves, and new inputs are proposed to replace contentious inputs traditionally used or to tackle yet unsolved production obstacles, including invasive pests and diseases or the consequences of climate change. The RELACS project aims at developing alternative products and tools to reduce the use of contentious inputs in plant protection, namely copper and mineral oils. Three far-advanced products resulting from previous research projects and a product from outside RELACS have been tested as alternatives to copper. For mineral oil alternatives, RELACS has investigated two products and a vibration disruption mating technique. The results of RELACS on these alternatives were presented to relevant stakeholders of the organic sector and to EU policymakers, in order to assess their acceptability of the alternatives and to identify under which conditions they could be adopted. This multi-actor approach and fact-based dialogue allowed to develop a “European roadmap to reduce contentious plant protection products in organic farming systems”, with the aim to propose fair, reliable and implementable rules to achieve an identified realistic reduction pathway of copper and mineral oil. For copper, the results of the RELACS project allow to envisage a future in which more solutions are available for the gradual reduction of copper use. The four copper alternatives developed under RELACS vary in terms of efficacy depending on the crop/disease combination, but none of the alternatives is as effective as copper under high disease pressure or highly conducive weather conditions. It is clear that a range of alternatives will be necessary to cover the broad spectrum of copper uses. At this stage, the evaluated alternatives are most likely best integrated into a copper minimization strategy whereas a full replacement is considered not feasible. In low-risk conditions, however, complete replacement of copper could be an option. As for mineral oils, it is not possible to envisage a phasing out in organic farming in the current state of knowledge, but the alternatives developed by RELACS show a good potential to reduce their use. In particular, the use of vibration signals in synergy with the two alternative products seems to be very promising. The RELACS project shows that reduction pathways for copper and mineral oil are possible in a near future, but their achievement will require a strong policy support in several fields. The major challenge identified is to adapt the EU registration process for active substances to plant extracts to facilitate their access to the market and availability for farmers. Additionally, policy support for continuous research and market development is needed. Finally, the use of the alternatives will be demanding for farmers due to higher product costs and the additional knowledge needed for their successful use. Therefore, incentives will have to be introduced to encourage farmers to engage in further reduction of copper and mineral oils.