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News Releases Growing interest in organic systems at XVI International Plant Protection Congress 21 September 2007 The growing interest in organic farming across the world will be reflected at next month’s Glasgow-based XVI IPPC being run in association with IAPPS and the BCPC International Congress and Exhibition where four technical papers will explore how agro-ecological understanding can improve organic systems in practice. With organic production relying on solutions implemented at a systems level for managing weeds, pests and diseases – rotation and inter-cropping are among the key organic management decisions to be taken, says session organiser, SAC’s Dr Christine Watson. “The session will be focusing on both ‘above’ and ‘below’ ground approaches to organic plant production through cultural techniques,” she says. “The above ground approach to plant health will largely be talking about crop choice and crop mixtures – not just rotation of crops over time but also within individual fields.” Dr Watson says that there’s increasing interest in growing different varieties of the same crop in the same field. She says that, in barley grown for feed for example, having different varieties in the same field leads to improved stability in yield, a better uptake of nutrients and less disease than growing just a single variety. “Choice of variety is a very important consideration and part of the issue is to spread the disease risk.” A paper from the Netherlands will be looking at below ground approaches, in particular comparing soil microbiology in organic systems and conventional farms. “Microbiological diversity is an indicator of soil health and early results from on-going trials in the Netherlands are looking at how we can manage soils to improve plant health,” she explains. Dr Watson is expecting a lot of interest at Congress from growers and industry alike where, in recent years, the subject of organic systems has become more acceptable. “There’s a lot of people looking to get advice on organic production at the moment and at the same time the organic certification bodies are looking to get more people involved. “The session is very much about a systems approach to organic farming and how it’s more of a preventative solution, rather than a cure,” she concludes. The XVI International Plant Protection Congress, in association with IAPPS (International Association for the Plant Protection Sciences) and the BCPC (British Crop Production Council) International Congress & Exhibition, takes place from October 15-18, 2007 at Glasgow’s SECC. |
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