Developing improved strategies for pest and disease management in organic vegetable production systems in the UK

摘要

Organic pest and disease management strategies should, from principle, be largely preventative and depend on a whole systems approach, with maintenance of soil health a central component of any strategy. This paper presents a summary of the most serious pest and disease problems encountered in a range of organic vegetable production systems over the past three seasons in England and Wales. The major crops all showed some specific pest and disease problems and overall about 10 percent crops had serious losses. Growers consistently rated potato late blight as the most important disease problem and carrot fly, aphids and cabbage oot fly as important pests. Slugs and birds are also a significant, but probably underrated problem, in crops such as brassicas. Priorities for improving management strategies can now be identified. Knowledge transfer is a key issue, as growers require a high level of biological understanding to plan and manage organic systems. Various factors, such as size and type of enterprise, past cropping practices, the economic and biological diversity of the holding as well as the marketing outlets of the farm, are likely to affect the type and effectiveness of management strategies employed.