It is important not to dilute the message to consumers of the benefits of fresh produce, Mark Waltham, commercial development manager at crop-protection company Certis Europe, has advised.

'A lot of progress has been made within the food industry. Fruit and vegetables produced in the UK are grown to the highest standards,' he said, 'but growers need to look continually to improve their production methods to meet the ever-increasing demands of consumers. All stages of the production chain have a responsibility to produce safe food and regulations are in place to define standards. All are working hard to comply, for the benefit of the consumers they supply.' Certis Europe provides integrated solutions to producers using the most appropriate combination of all the technologies available to grow the desired crop. At the same time sustainability is vital, so crop protection methods are devised to support profitable production for the grower.

The technologies available through Certis Europe include agrochemicals, beneficial insects, microbiologicals, and monitoring and trapping systems using pheromones. 'The most appropriate use of these technologies for a given situation adds up to the Certis definition of integrated pest management (IPM),' said Waltham. 'These technologies are applied in an IPM strategy that considers pests, diseases and weeds in terms of prevention, observation and intervention. It is desirable to do as much as possible to prevent pest and disease attack, rather than having to treat later. We advise growers on improving crop hygiene and reducing latent and local disease or pest levels. For example, using a disinfectant such as Jet 5 in irrigation lines helps to clean up any water-borne disease infestation. In a similar vein, sterilising soil with Basamid before planting lettuce can reduce the need for using a herbicide in the crop. Controlling weeds with Basamid before planting has many advantages. This principle is also being applied by the British Potato Council to reduce local sources of blight by correct treatment of potato dumps with products such as Casoron G.' The second step in implementing IPM is observation. 'Keeping track of disease, weed and pest infestations at a local level within the crop is key to being able to control them efficiently,' explained Waltham. 'If pest or disease levels are very low, a treatment may not even be necessary.' Pheromone traps are an effective way of monitoring moth species present in a crop and deciding if and when action is required. Caterpillars of the Diamond Back moth can cause tremendous damage in brassicas but, by using a trap, a grower may avoid the need for weekly insecticide applications. The grower and adviser can check the incidence of the moth and decide to treat only when a threshold is reached in the trap. In a similar way soil tests (J-Tests from Certis) can be used to analyse the level of disease pathogens in the soil prior to making a decision to treat for Verticillium in the strawberry rotation.

If needed, the final step in the IPM process is intervention. 'Once the grower and adviser decide that the threshold level for any given pest or disease has been reached, a course of action is required,' said Waltham. 'This will vary according to the crop, the problem, the locality and the eventual market for the crop. Certis can often offer a choice of product for the intervention strategy to provide the most appropriate solution, be it beneficial insects or the insecticide diflubenzuron (Dimilin), which is specific to Diamond Back Moth caterpillars and has no effect on local, natural predator populations.' Growers are working to exacting standards. 'IPM is a vital part of this,' said Waltham. 'It is becoming the standard production method and should be promoted as providing safe and healthy crops.'