Poll: Integrated pest management on UK arable land
© Tim Scrivener Arable farmers, industry leaders and academics will be gathering at Stoneleigh Park in Warwickshire on Tuesday (5 June) to attend a summit on integrated pest management (IPM).
The event, NFU IPM summit: What’s in your toolbox?, will discuss the research and practicalities of a holistic, integrated approach to the pest, weed and disease challenge for combinable crops.
Guest speakers include Paul Temple, chairman of the Voluntary Initiative, Phil Jarvis, farm manager at The Allerton Project farm at Loddington in Leicestershire and AICC independent agronomist Sean Sparling.
See also: Biopesticides to play a greater role on arable farms
Many UK farmers and growers already implement an IPM approach, using cultivation and management techniques, such as crop rotations and cover cropping to productively and sustainably cultivate crops.
What is integrated pest management?
Integrated pest management is the holistic use of all available plant protection methods and subsequent integration of appropriate measures to discourage the development of weed, pest and disease populations and keep the use of pesticide and other interventions to levels that are economically and ecologically justified and minimise risks to human health and the environment (based on the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization and Sustainable Use Directive definition).
Defra secretary Michael Gove has set out his vision for a “green Brexit” and the release of Defra’s Health and Harmony paper and its 25-year environment plan will only add increasing pressure to the way UK agriculture operates.
‘Green Brexit’
The future of farming is set to be green and there are no doubts much is to change over the coming years with our exit from the EU.
Tom Bradshaw, NFU crops board chairman, said: “Together we must make more noise about the positive influences UK farmers have on the countryside whilst also addressing any existing knowledge gaps that could aid productivity and sustainability of future food production.”
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