ERIAFF Conference 2014 Seinäjoki, Finland Peter Jens, Global Alliance Director Koppert Biological Systems, The Netherlands "Safety, convenience and reliability: state-of-the-art crop protection"

1. Integrated Crop
Management
Biologicals
Today & Future
Trends & Challenges
Peter Jens
Global Alliance Manager
(Agtivist and Registered Lobbyist)

2. -Develop novel organic
techniques, out-of-soil,
for protected crops.
-Change or influence
EU organic regulations

3. Sustainable Crop Production Intensification
“..produce more with the
same area of land while
conserving resources,
reducing negative impacts
on the environment and
enhancing natural capital
and the flow of the
ecosystem services
United Nations
Book from the Food and Agriculture Organisation
A policy makers’ guide to the sustainable
intensification of small holder crop production

4. Soil health
Agriculture must, literally, return to its roots by
rediscovering the importance of healthy soil,
drawing on natural resources of plant nutrition,
and using mineral fertilizer wisely.
Crops and Varieties
Farmers will need a genetically diverse portfolio of
improved crop varieties that are suited to a range of agro-
ecosystems and farming practices, and resilient to climate
change

5. Plant protection
Pesticides kill pests, but also pest’s natural
enemies and their overuse can harm farmers,
consumers and the environment.
The first line of defence
is a healthy agro-ecosystem
Water management
Sustainable intensification requieres smart, precision
technologies for irrigation and farming practices that use
ecosystem approaches to conserve water

6. Promising directions in
Integrated Pest & Disease
Management that require further
research

7. “Good forecasts are not those that occur,
but those that lead to action.”
Michel Godet, 2012
1962 1972 1987

8. New Roads to New Goals
 The Market demands residu-poor or even residu-free produce
(food safety)
- Retailers impose extra-legal requirements on farmers
 More attention for worker safety of the farmer and his personel
 Society and Legislator want less impact on the environment
and public health
- Stronger regulatory requirements have lead to less and safer
pesticides
- IPM has to lead to reduced use of pesticides (National Action
Plans)
- No emission of pesticides into the environment (Water
Framework)
 Sustainable Food Production : more production with less
input and less impact.

9. Challenges for sustainable crop protection
 Residue Management
- license to supply
 Resistance Management
- relying only on pesticides will lead to pesticide
resistance problems
- pesticide resistance leads to more intensive usage
 Rentability
- more yield with less cost and less Risk

10. Focus for the future?
 Chemical pesticides will no longer be the only basis for crop
protection.
 Integrated Pest and Disease Management is raised to a higher
level.
 Resilience against climate change and invasive alien pests and
diseases

12. From mainly curing, to mainly preventing
 From reductionism to holism
 Resilient production systems
- from risky balancing …
- … to self-balancing systems
 Systems thinking at all system levels (prevention)
 Resilient Plant
 Resilient Soil/Substrate
 Resilient Cropping Systems
 Resilient Agro-ecosystems
 Resilient Society
“the root cause”
efficiency
sufficiency

13. Society
Agroecosystem
Cropping
System
Plant
Pest/Disease
Control Agents
before
planting
during
cropping
after
harvest
IPM = Systems Thinking
+ interactions between system levels
and feedback for continuous improvement.

14. Biological Control Agents
 Develop and improve beneficial insects and mites
- Screening of new BCA’s
- Selective breeding
- Generalists
- “Standing army” of predators
 Sterile Insect Technique
 Develop and improve microbial
 antagonists of pests and diseases
Pseudomonas chlororaphis
op Fusarium oxysporum
on tomato roots

16. Resilient Plants
 Breeding for Resistance
- (partial) resistance, multi gene resistance
- more adapted for beneficial insects and mites
 Induced Systemic Resistance (ISR)
Systemic Acquired Resistance (SAR)
- activators
- micro-organisms : seed treatment
- predatory bugs
 Endophytes : “systemic” micro-organisms
 Resistance Inducing Substrates
 Low doses of pesticides to slow down pest development
 Preventive release of predators and parasites (“standing
army”)
 …

18. Resilient Soils/Substrates
a.k.a. “suppressive soils”
1. Respecting (microbial) soil life
- avoid harmful pesticides
- improve the physical/abiotic conditions in the soil
2. Increasing the quantity of (microbial) soil life
- soil organic material (SOM), compost, green manure, …
- biostimulants
3. Increasing the diversity of (microbial) soil life
- soil organic material (SOM), compost, green manure, …
4. Adding specific antagonists
- Trichoderma spp., Bacillus spp., Pseudomonas spp., etc.

19. The root cause …
Pineda et al., 2010, Helping plants to deal with insects: the role of beneficial
soil-borne microbes. Trends in Plant Science. Vol.15,Issue 9, p. 507-514

20. What can microbes do for us ?
• Tolerance to salinity
osmotic protectants : enable crop production in salinated
soils
• Tolerance to drought stress
enable crops to better tolerate periods of drought.
Soil Food Web !

21. Crop Protection & Productivity
 Increased production when intensive use of chemical
pesticides is stopped.
 Plant growth promoting (PGP) effect of antagonistic micro-
organisms (“biofertilizers”).
 Reduction of use of chemical fertilizers by applying micro-
organisms (“biofertilizers”).
 Protection against salt stress and drought stress by using
micro-organisms.
 Convergence of Integrated Pest & Disease Management
(IPM) and Integrated Soil & Nutrient Management (INM).

22. Plant Protection Policy Paradox
Succesful European policy aimed at reducing the number of
chemical PPP’s and the use of chemical PPP’s.
BUT: Policy is not sufficiently aimed at enabling the
development and availability of alternatives:
1.Registration requirements for microbials.
2.Very long registration proces for microbial biological control
agents due to insufficient expertise of the examiners.
3.Declining support of research into non-chemical alternatives.
Tunnelvision with regards to genetics only.
4.Regulation of biostimulants and biofertilisers, now
considered as PPP’s under 1107/2009.

23. “We are now on the threshold of a third
phase in the development of IPM systems
that recognizes pests not as enemies,
but as indicators of problems in the design
and management of systems”
Hill (1985)

24. Credos
 Food certainty
 Food safety
 Sustainability
“the root cause”

25. What is biological crop protection for Koppert?
Natural plant vitality

26. Advantages of biological crop protection
 Safer than chemical products for the grower,
employee and consumer
 Pests cannot become resistant to natural
enemies
 Better for the environment
 Natural enemies actively search for the prey
 Eliminates pesticide residues
 Improves marketability

27. Integrated crop protection
Balanced application of natural
enemies and chemical pesticides.
“Biological control where possible,
chemicals when necessary.”

28. Thank you !
pmaes@koppert.nl

29. Predators

30. Predators

31. Parasites

32. Insect Pathogens

33. Insect Pathogenic Nematodes

34. Pheromones