Pesticide-free and residue-free production are farming methods that aim to give growers an alternative to conventional farming. These systems offer a move away from pesticides and appeal to a consumer base that is becoming more aware of health and environmental issues. Both researchers and growers are looking to see how plants fare against pests and diseases without the pesticides they have relied on for their entire careers. It could be the first step into a brave new world, but growers first need to know if crop yield and quality can be sustained without the use of pesticides.
Andreas Moll, who heads up South Africa-based grower Bio-Select, came into the industry when he started to grow what he calls residue-free blueberries and blackberries. It took five seasons for the firm to develop its production methods. Moll is passionate about reducing pesticide use, and he is keen to stress the difference between pesticide-free and residue-free production and organic methods. “With organic farming, you are still allowed to use organic-registered chemicals,” he explains. “If a grower uses organic-registered chemicals, residues can still be picked up with spectrometry.
“Organic fertiliser on the market is also sold and marketed in terms of nitrogen, phosphate and potassium. This is the basis of chemical farming and the number-one reason for our deteriorating soil life and plants with zero disease resistance.”
He claims there are significant environmental advantages to using fewer or even no pesticides. “It is sustainable in terms of soil health and input costs,” he says. “With residue-free production, the input cost is under the control of the grower and not the chemical company.”
Dr Nick Birch, a senior entomologist at the Scottish Crop Research Institute (SCRI) in Dundee, has 25 years’ experience in raspberry crop production and protection. He says that he is struggling to keep up with new interest in pesticide-free methods, largely due to increasing consumer demand and recently proposed changes to EU legislation.
The institute works on ways to help growers find ecologically based alternatives for the use of pesticides, “especially those on the EU hit list”, says Birch. “Growers are just beginning to realise that the pesticides they have relied on for 10 or 20 years are going to be taken away,” he explains.
However, the timing of the EU proposals may prove problematic. “It can take at least 10 years to develop techniques for pest- and disease-resistant plant varieties and EU restrictions on pesticides are coming in now,” Birch says. “It could mean that there will not be pesticide-free methods for some crops before the usual pesticides are taken away.”
There is a potentially strong consumer market for pesticide-free products, but so far only a handful of forward-thinking companies have risen to the challenge.
Consumer demand will be a key factor in growing the market. “Miss Consumer is going to ask questions like ‘What about the other stuff on the counter? Does it contain harmful chemicals?’” says Moll. “Retailers should see residue-free production as an opportunity for change. I sold my whole crop as residue-free to [South Africa-based retailer] Woolworths and Bakkavor for use in fresh-cut fruit salads. In 2008, I will start exporting punneted fruit to the UK.”
But while there does seem to be a strong marketing incentive to use reduced or zero-pesticide methods, it does not come without challenges.
East Malling Research (EMR) has run trials for residue-free fruit in commercial orchards since 2001. The testing has been successful but the risks to crops from pests and disease are still high, says Angela Berrie, research leader in plant pathology at EMR. Gala apples, for instance, are particularly susceptible to scab. “It is very important to monitor properly,” she says. “You have to look out for problems. For example, there is a risky period for scab in June when you may have to intervene with conventional pesticides.”
The trials are very dependent on the weather. “On one trial, the forecast for the rest of the summer was so bad we went back to conventional methods,” Berrie admits.
EMR uses pesticides only when necessary after carefully monitoring the crop, but reduced availability of some key pesticides will make all production methods harder. “To make this approach work, you need effective pesticides - to lose these would not be helpful to the programme at all, although if it comes through we would explore how to adapt,” Berrie says.
Residue-free production is also more costly than conventional growing methods, as growers can save money on pesticides but then spend more on management, as it requires much more monitoring.
But some growers are willing to make that first outlay. The high initial costs have proven to be an investment for Bio-Select. “Most of the input cost is in ground preparation during the first year,” Moll says. “Ground preparation can take up to one year.” However, once the right systems were in place, Moll found that his yields were higher than conventional production, which means the fruit can be competitively priced. “My residue-free production is about 50 per cent cheaper over five years of production,” he says.
Supermarket incentives may help to develop the pesticide-free and residue-free market. They would allow growers to take advantage of consumer interest and also to avoid the potential problems arising from European pesticide regulations. “If supermarkets offered an incentive, people would be more willing to take the risk, but at the moment growers feel it is too risky,” Berrie says.
The major retailers appear to be slow to take up pesticide-free and residue-free labels, especially considering the consumer appeal it offers. Concerns that labels such as ‘pesticide-free’ could invite scrutiny from critics and the general public may hold back the development of the market. “People want to show that the produce does have residues to the smallest degree and consumers might react by asking what residues other products have if one is marketed as having none,” Berrie says.
However, supermarket interest may increase as researchers and growers develop methods that keeps yield and quality high and sale price low, compared to other premium brands.
Researchers at EMR and SCRI have been running trials over the last few years and believe there are viable production methods available.
EMR’s research takes place on four commercial orchards, as well as in controlled scientific environments. It focuses on reducing pesticides by managing crops with pesticide-free methods and combines this with close monitoring of diseases and pests, and using sprays when necessary. “In conventional methods, spray goes on at bud burst and at 10-day intervals up until the middle of the summer, depending on the weather and associated risks,” Berrie says.
The trials so far have shown promising results and it is hoped that this method of controlling pesticide use will be an effective growing method. “There has been no difference in yield,” Berrie insists. “The whole point of developing the system was so it could be used as a step on from conventional methods.”
SCRI has been trialling and developing techniques such as attractant-enhanced trapping of raspberry beetles and breeding aphid-resistant raspberries for reducing pest risk to raspberry crops, as part of a £1.3 million project funded by DEFRA. “The aim is to come up with a user-friendly integrated pest and disease management (IPDM) package to enable growers to use fewer pesticides,” Birch says.
Marks & Spencer and Waitrose have become involved in the project, as they are keen to meet consumer demand for pesticide- and residue-free produce.
SCRI has also just embarked on a five-year project focusing on pesticide-free methods in brassica production, looking in particular at how to protect against cabbage root fly and turnip root fly.
The team is researching two different ways to control pests without the use of pesticides. The first is to breed plants that are genetically more resistant to pests. There are problems with relying solely on this approach - it takes at least 10 years to develop plants with sufficient resistance and secondly, once these plants have been developed, raspberry aphids can adapt over several years if selection pressure is high, so another variety will need to be developed.
The next method is to develop mechanisms to reduce the number of pests on the crop. SCRI has been developing special traps to catch raspberry beetles, which lay their eggs in the flowers of the raspberry plant resulting in maggots in the fruit.The traps are not yet available commercially, but it is hoped they will be on the market soon. Birch says these methods have been highly effective. “Organic raspberry growers in Norway have doubled their Class I raspberries using these pesticide-free methods over the last two to three years, so it obviously works once growers are familiar with the new crop protection system,” he says.
Growers keen to support environment-friendly methods and capitalise on consumer demand have already started developing and using techniques for pesticide- and residue-free produce.
Angus Soft Fruits (ASF) has developed the Good Natured Fruit brand as a way of positioning itself as a market leader in healthy and environment-friendly fresh produce. ASF commercial director John Gray says sales have built up steadily and feedback has been very positive.
The Scotland-based firm started producing pesticide-free strawberries and raspberries last year and sells to Asda, Sainsbury’s and The Co-op following a pilot scheme that proved successful. Production has increased by 50 per cent this year and there are plans to expand into other pesticide-free product lines in the future.
The Seaton production system, developed by technical director Dave Griffiths, is used to grow the fruit in peat bags on table-tops. The process is labour-intensive, but Gray insists they have had good yields and quality, while having successfully avoided using any pesticides. The plants have to be monitored very carefully. If a pest problem is observed, the area is treated with insects that attack the pest before it spreads. Imported fruit grown under the same system will be used to fill gaps in supply from the end of autumn.
Gray maintains that pesticide-free production is cheaper to produce than organics. “It retails at about 25-30 per cent more than conventional produce, whereas organic is more expensive at 40-50 per cent more than conventional,”he says. This means the product can tap into consumer demand for healthy produce, free from chemicals, at a cheaper price.
Bio-Select has been developing residue-free methods for five years, during which a series of strict protocols have been developed. The only practices that are allowed are well-fermented compost and the inoculation of soil with naturally occurring microbes isolated from various soil types. The company does not allow tillage, unfermented inorganic fertilisers, or any herbicides, pesticides or fungicides; either organic or non-organic.
A number of obligatory controls are in place on the site. Irrigation water, compost and microbial preparations are tested every three months for pathogenic strains. Soil, plant leaves and crop bearing areas are to be tested every three months to ensure there are no residues. The fruit crop is also tested for residues mid-season and at harvesting. The team is trained in the principles of biological farming, and an active and workable programme for the re-introduction of predators for pests is in place. “My residue-free production yield is 20 per cent higher than conventional and 50 per cent higher than organic production,” says Moll. “Shelf life on blackberries is 10 days longer than conventional.”
As researchers and growers continue to report success, pesticide-free and residue-free produce may prove to be a significant movement over the next few years. Gray believes the trend is likely to catch on both with consumers and growers. “Everyone will be considering it now there could be significant changes in what pesticides will be available to use,” he says.
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