Eco-Farming: Aiming for Zero Treatment.
|
|
|
|
Eco-Farming: Aiming for Zero Treatment.
Increasingly preoccupied with counteracting the polluting image of agriculture, some growers are turning away from
chemical treatments in favour of integrated plant protection.
Today
these producers can forget about insecticide treatment, and call on an
arsenal of effective aids, whose cost is comparable: about 0.5-0.8
euros/m2, depending on the severity of the threat and the weather.
Though integrated plant protection (IPP) does require additional
monitoring on a daily basis, it generates significant improvements in
terms of yield, and especially quality. While the incentives are real
(environmental protection, improved quality, better working conditions,
etc.), the application of IPP is less apparent because it depends on
the conditions of the ground. Integrated biological protection is still
expensive, but so are insecticides, whose effectiveness is not always
certain.
Moreover
the persistence of insecticides means picking has to be postponed for
several days after treatment, with the result that the vegetables are
over their permissible sale size.
The
producers find the alternative of integrated plant protection
attractive because of the increasingly insecticide-resistant pests, the
regulations, and the market requirements (produce with external
blemishes not sold). Sanitary conditions are still the main concern,
first of all for the producer because insecticide treatment is tedious,
restrictive and hazardous, and secondly for the consumer because the
insecticides inevitably end up in his food. Filclair has met the
challenge by installing insect-proof netting on its greenhouses to
control insect intrusion. The system is based on the well-proven
technique of mosquito netting, adapted for sheltered crop production,
and on entry lock systems. The new Insect Proof System is right on
target.
With the kind participation of INRA and the magazine PHM.
|
