Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
of non-renewable inputs that harm the environment, make use of the knowledge and skills
of farmers in order to substitute human capital for costly external inputs, and to encourage
people to work together to solve common agricultural problems (Pretty, 2008). A number
of different terms have been used to imply greater sustainability in some agricultural sys-
tems than others, including ecoagriculture (McNeely & Scherr, 2003; Scherr & McNeely,
2008), ecological agriculture (Magdoff, 2007), and low input agriculture (Pretty, 2008).
Many of these approaches involve minimising or even eliminating the use of pesticides in
favour of biologically based approaches to crop protection.
If food production is to increase to feed the ever-rising world population, either the
intensity of agricultural production needs to increase or more land is converted to agri-
culture. At the same time, the environmental consequences of food production need to be
tackled, while scientists grapple with the persistent problems of fungicide insensitivity
and breakdown of host resistance. This is a tall order and in terms of crop protection, will
require a multi-faceted approach to controlling diseases, pests and weeds. The chapters in
this topic have dealt with a variety of biologically based approaches to controlling plant
disease. Some of these approaches are already used in practice, while others will require
further research before practical implementation is possible.
14.2
How might biologically based disease control be
used in crop protection practice?
As mentioned above, effective disease control requires a multi-faceted approach, using
a number of different methods. Control of certain crop diseases will require biologi-
cally based methods to be integrated into disease control programmes, along with other
approaches. For other diseases, for example, those for which no adequate control exists,
biologically based methods might offer the only hope of reducing disease to accept-
able levels. The expected scarcity of pesticides in the EU in the future, as a result of the
revision of Directive 91/414 EEC, will eventually force farmers and growers to re-think
their crop protection strategies and diminish their reliance on pesticides (Kudsk, 2007).
This will require more diversifi ed disease control strategies, based on new technologies
and including a broad range of approaches. Such a change requires support and with this in
mind, an EU Network of Excellence (ENDURE) was established in January 2007 to facil-
itate this change. The idea behind ENDURE is the establishment of a European network
of expertise, which will share knowledge and facilities, and initiate joint research, with
the aim of developing innovative crop protection strategies for dissemination to farmers
(Kudsk, 2007).
Sustainable approaches to agriculture, including many biologically based methods of
disease control, might be particularly appropriate for fragile and low-yielding farming
systems located, for example, in dry lands, uplands, near-deserts and hillsides (Hazell &
Wood, 2008). In many developing countries, integrated management practices are used
to control important pathogens and pests (Phiri
et al.
,
2007). For example, bean common
mosaic virus (BCMV) and bean common mosaic necrotic virus (BCMNV) are controlled
using virus-free seed, intercropping with non-host crops, and use of resistant varieties,
while loose or head smut, caused by
Sphacelotheca reiliana,
is managed through rota-
tion, deep ploughing and destruction of plant debris, and use of resistant varieties (Phiri
et al.
,
2007).
