Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
Unfortunately but as well inevitably, the development of useful plants and
their intensive cultivation have triggered an evolution of pathogens like plant
diseases and pest attacks.
Several times such pathogens have had an deep impact on human
development. One example is the outbreak of late blight in Ireland between
1845 and 1849. Four years of bad to no harvest in potatoes caused the death of
500.000 Irishmen due to famine and triggered the emigration of 1,6 Million
more to the US.
Crop protection tries to fight such pest attacks to assure yield amounts stay
on the necessary level. Besides agricultural engineering, plant breeding and
fertilization it has become an indispensable part of modern agriculture.
Experts guess, that without any type of intelligent crop protection,
agricultural yields would on average be around 50 % lower. The fact that we
have not seen hunger crisis in the western world since many years is due to a
highly efficient agriculture that includes crop protection measures.
Still, even though not substitutable, there is a downside to crop protection.
The use of pesticides and therefore the application of chemicals into the
environment bears substantial risks for both nature as well as human beings.
Spraying helps to avoid plant diseases and pest attacks but the number of
treatments is often not optimal adjusted to the appearance of noxious
organisms. Achieving the optimal efficiency is difficult. This often leads to
negative economic and environmental impacts for farmers and the environ-
ment.
To minimize the negative effects of crop protection, several preconditions
have to be met. On the one hand there have to be strong regulations in place on
how, when and where to use pesticides or how, when and where not to use
them. Additionally Decision Support Systems (DSS) have to be set in place to
allow smarter decisions e.g. when and where to use pesticides.
In Germany forecasting models and advice by the government are used in
the planning of spraying, taking economic and ecological aspects in account.
The prediction of the occurrence and the prevention of plant diseases and pest
attacks is an important component of integrated pest management.
Since location plays a crucial role in agriculture GIS-Systems can play an
important role here. They can support sustainable crop protection by helping to
get better answers to questions like:
●
Where should be applied which amount of pesticide to achieve
optimal results and to comply with legal regulations?
