Preventative Measures

A thorough understanding of the pest’s life cycle can assist in preventing quality and yield problems, or unnecessary pesticide application, within a crop. This should also develop the level at which pests and diseases can be tolerated, i.e. the threshold levels, before intervention is needed, to avoid damage to crop quality.

Avoid the establishment of 'green bridges' from the end of one crop to the start of the same crop, where they are spatially close. This may involve total control of vegetation by non-persistent herbicides and /or cultivations to remove crop debris and control of volunteers/ground keepers. When ploughing in residues, all efforts must be taken to minimise the level of nitrate leaching.

Please consider th development of environmental balance sheets, to account for and minimise any N losses, e.g. as available from EMA (University of Hertfordshire and Defra) as the basis of on farm good practice. Consideration must also be given to wildlife conservation. In areas where the pest pressure is low, there may be benefits to local wildlife populations by maintaining green cover for periods of time, as part of an overall managed strategy.

Crop rotation. This should involve rationale based on the use of logical and data based cropping history, known pest and disease problems and soil type, with respect to each crop to be grown and its target market and the long-term sustainability of growing each desired crop in that field. Rotation involving long term rental and business arrangements is likely to be more successful that renting on a one year basis.

Establish and manage good soil structure, correct nutrition and appropriate use of irrigation, to provide for strong healthy growth. Advice and understanding of these issues is available from Farmcare.

Careful site selection to avoid potential and known problems, thereby enhancing crop health.

Use of resistant varieties that exhibit the required quality characteristics.

Use of seed rates to control the speed of crop cover development and the structure of the final canopy, to reduce the need for herbicides.

Use of husbandry techniques, such as cultivations, to reduce the reliance on herbicides, where appropriate. The use of a pesticide, or the use of any other method of control, (or indeed, non-control !), should be subject to risk assessment ahead of decision-making. Thus, for instance the full environmental implications will then have been considered, when cultivation could replace a pesticide application e.g. the consequences to nesting birds.