Eco-Farming: Aiming for Zero Treatment. |
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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. |
