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This session will present new developments in chemicals and micro-organisms for control of crop diseases, including novel active ingredients which have not been reported in detail at scientific meetings or in the scientific literature prior to the Conference.

Contributions reporting significant advances in the formulation of pesticides, or the development of major new uses of established products will also be welcomed.

Chairman: Dr K Brent (BCPC, Farnham, UK)
Session Organiser: Dr P Gladders (ADAS, Boxworth, UK)

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These small and inconspicuous insects have become much more prominent as pests over the last few years. Several species have increased their geographical range and caused new problems in areas they were previously unknown. Increased research interest is leading, through better understanding of their biology, to more sophisticated monitoring and management techniques.

This session will present an overview of some of the major factors contributing to the status of thrips as pests and the development of strategies for their control. Professor Trevor Lewis (IACR-Rothamsted, UK) will set the scene for the session with a short introduction. Other speakers will include Professor Diane Ullman (University of California, Davis, USA) who will talk on the transmission of viruses by thrips and Professor Johan van Lenteren (Wageningen Agricultural University, the Netherlands) who will discuss IPM approaches to the control of thrips.

Chairman: Professor T Lewis (IACR-Rothamsted, UK)
Session Organiser: Dr O Macdonald (CSL, York, UK)

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There is ever-greater pressure from environmentalists and consumers to look beyond conventional pesticide-based management techniques and to focus, instead, on systems that rely on a wider range of control measures that are more firmly based on an understanding of the pests' biology.

Invited speakers in this session will be Professor Clive Brasier (Forest Research, Farnham, UK) who will discuss the exploitation of viruses for control of pathogenic fungi and Professor Owen Jones (AgriSense, Pontypridd, UK) whose topic will be target technology, especially the use of semiochemicals to improve the precision of chemical control.

Chairman: Dr H Evans (Forest Research, Farnham, UK)
Session Organisers: Dr H Evans (Forest Research, Farnham, UK) and Dr C Prior (Royal Horticultural Society, Wisley, UK)

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This session will provide an overview of the issue of food safety and pesticide residues. In particular, the session will specifically answer the question - Is there a food safety problem? from the perspective of the retailers, the government, the agrochemical industry and the consumers.

Invited speakers in this session will address how the retailers perceive the problem, their role in reassuring the public and their activities to reduce the pesticide residues in the food commodities on the shelves. Industry positions on pesticide residues and those of consumer groups will include issues relating to product stewardship and those of public perception. Mrs Caroline Harris (PSD, York, UK) will describe the regulatory procedures to ensure the consumer safety of pesticide residues.

Chairman and Session Organiser: Mr S J Crossley (PSD, York, UK)

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Development of resistance in pests and pathogens continues to pose a serious threat to the performance of insecticides and fungicides. While such a loss of performance will be costly both to growers and agrochemical companies, concern about the increased environmental and human exposure associated with the additional pesticide needed to control resistant pests cannot be ignored.

The commercial availability of products based on new chemistry has provided new challenges for resistance management. These new developments and various aspects of resistance will be examined in this session.

Session Organiser: Dr D D Slawson (PSD, York, UK)

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This session recognises the importance of pests and diseases in limiting the production of crops in tropical and sub-tropical environments. Advances in pest management can have a major impact on the livelihoods of farmers in these regions. Because pesticide use in these regions is often excessive or ill-advised, improvements in pest management practices also have considerable environmental significance. Appropriate pest management practices are also an important component of environmentally sound development.

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For both regulatory and Integrated Pest Management (IPM) purposes, there has been considerable recent attention paid to the development of methodologies for testing the effects of pesticides on non-target arthropods. It is generally accepted that a risk assessment scheme should involve a step-wise succession of tests, increasing in scale and complexity from laboratory tests to field trials. This session will review progress with developing, standardising and implementing risk assessment recommendations within the EU.

Dr Kevin Brown (Ecotox, Tavistock, UK) will discuss protocols for conducting field trials, emphasising problems in design and the interpretation of field data, whilst the complementary roles of laboratory and field testing in ecotoxicological risk assessment will be addressed by Dr Ian Denholm (IACR-Rothamsted, UK). Approaches to risk management of pesticide effects on non-target arthropods will be considered by Dr Pieter Oomen (Ministry of Agriculture, Wageningen, the Netherlands).

Chairman: Dr N Halsall (Huntingdon Life Sciences, Huntingdon, UK)
Session Organiser: Dr W Powell (IACR-Rothamsted, UK)

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Integrated Crop Management (ICM) is a whole farm husbandry approach to managing inputs in order to minimise their impact on the environment and the quality of the farmland itself, whilst, maintaining the quality of outputs in an economically sustainable manner. ICM strategies use the most appropriate combinations of cultural, mechanical, chemical and biological techniques to maintain pest, weed and disease levels below economically damaging thresholds. Within ICM, crop protection strategies are also aimed at minimising the development of resistance.

Such integration of strategies requires a sophisticated understanding of the links between the control techniques and between the pests, weeds and diseases. The contributions to this session will describe the results of experiments and techniques evaluating ICM approaches.

Session Organiser: Dr D H K Davies (SAC, Edinburgh, UK)

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The precision of pest management techniques must be continually improved to meet consumer and regulatory demands. This session looks beyond conventional pesticide-based management techniques to the development of systems that exploit the full range of control measures available and are based firmly on knowledge of the pests' biology.

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The session will examine how the industry is reducing packaging waste against a background of increasing legislation whilst exploring options for its disposal.

Dr Geoffrey Cooper (Environment Agency, Bristol, UK) will describe the legal situation as a backdrop to the problem. Mr Peter Carter (Consultant, Bishops Stortford, UK) will present the latest work on the burning of packaging waste. Dr Detlef Döhnert (BASF AG, Limburgerhof, Germany) will address pesticide packaging waste reduction, whilst Mr Peter Jones (Biffa Waste Services Ltd, High Wycombe, UK) will discuss off-farm waste disposal options.

Chairman: Mr C Hibbitt (Consultant, Writtle, UK)

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Nematodes cause substantial yield losses in many crop plants. Practical control has depended upon use of chemical nematicides to reduce pre-planting nematode population densities and to protect roots from attack. Withdrawal of some products and concern about the environmental impact of others has refocused attention on the opportunities for nematode control by non-chemical methods.

In this session, Professor Brian Kerry (IACR-Rothamsted, UK) will give an overview of progress with non-chemical control, including exploitation of biological control agents and Professor Howard Atkinson (Leeds University, UK) will assess the prospects for using transgenic resistance. Other speakers will consider further approaches to nematode control which do not rely on conventional nematicides.

Chairman: Dr M Robinson (Zeneca Agrochemicals, Jealott's Hill, UK)
Session Organiser: Dr R Cook (IGER, Aberystwyth, UK)

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New methods for the diagnosis of plant pathogens have been developed over the past few years and some of these are beginning to be used in the field. Progress towards their exploitation as a means for improving the efficiency of disease control will be discussed in this session.

Invited speakers include Dr Derek Hollomon (IACR-Long Ashton, UK) who will review current uses of diagnostics in practice and future prospects and Dr Lawrence Kenyon (NRI, University of Greenwich, UK) who will describe recent developments in the diagnosis and detection of phytoplasma and spiroplasma diseases of tropical crops.

Chairman: Dr R Black (NRI, University of Greenwich, UK)
Session Organiser: Dr T Locke (ADAS, Rosemaund, UK)

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Increasing demands from consumers for high quality horticultural produce using minimal pesticide inputs require the development and application of methodologies that improve pesticide efficiency and integrate them with biological or other control techniques within horticultural production systems. In many horticultural crops the presence of several diseases as a complex increases the risk of potential yield loss. Development of techniques that improve the detection of pests and pathogens and can optimise the spatial and temporal application of pesticides at the appropriate dosage to horticultural crops, including ornamentals, is necessary.

Contributions will cover the full range of horticultural crops and will assess aspects such as organic production, integration of pesticides with biological control methods and pest and disease prediction and modelling.

Session Organisers : Ms J Fitzgerald (HRI, East Malling, UK) and Dr R Kennedy (HRI, Wellesbourne, UK)

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Decisions on what is considered to be an acceptable risk has long been the domain of the scientific community and has frequently been used to form the basis of official positions. However recent high profile issues like genetically modified crops, BSE and the use of organophosphates have increased public awareness leading to increasing challenges to scientific positions. It is now increasing obvious that there is a significant difference in the perceptions of risk between the public and the scientists and it is clear that science alone cannot provide the whole basis for decision making.

The objective of this discussion session will be to debate the issues surrounding risk, the process of its evaluation and communication.

Session Chairman: Mr C Major (Zeneca, London, UK)
Session Organiser: Mr M Skidmore (Zeneca Agrochemicals, Jealott's Hill Research Station, UK)

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