TOPPLANT Manual
Preface
Due to the intensive use of agrochemicals (mainly fertilizers and pesticides), agricultural crop production contributes significantly to environmental pollution. Therefore, one of the most important environmental challenges of today's agriculture is to minimize or completely avoid the use of agrochemicals. This is possible in organic farming. Protection against harmful organisms in integrated and especially in organic farming requires a lot of knowledge and experience of producers in production planning. Because of the need for a holistic approach, it is considered the most difficult segment of organic farming. Farmers' fear that crops cannot be protected from pests due to strict requirements and regulations is often the main reason why farmers find it difficult to decide to convert to organic farming. This handbook focuses on crop protection in organic agriculture and is very specific in its content as it addresses one of the most important organic challenges in agriculture, namely the need to minimize or eliminate the use of crop protection products. We have tried to follow the modern trends in agriculture and, in addition to the theoretical assumptions, we have provided practical solutions for the implementation of the training of agricultural producers for plant protection in organic farming and for the implementation of plant protection in organic farming.
In addition to the theoretical assumptions of the participatory education method, the first chapter presents examples of organization and implementation to facilitate planning and implementation. The second chapter describes the general approach to pest management in organic agriculture, with particular emphasis on all available methods and practices to prevent pest occurrence, including agrotechnical methods, resistance enhancement, biodiversity conservation, and pest monitoring and prediction methods. The following three chapters cover the principles and approaches to pest, disease, and weed management. Each pest group is approached in a specific way depending on its characteristics. For pests, their life cycle is explained first and foremost, and the importance of knowing the stages of pest development and the basic morphological characteristics by which they can be identified is emphasized. In the case of pests and diseases, special attention is given to the recognition of pest symptoms (illustrated by numerous examples) and to methods of predicting their occurrence and setting deadlines for control, which is of great importance to the practitioner. In the case of weeds, there is a great deal of information on the identification of harmful species and on various methods and procedures (agrotechnical measures, mechanical and physical protection methods) for the prevention or control of weeds (solarization method, burning of weeds, etc.). In each of the three chapters, the active substances approved under the latest EU regulations to control a specific group of harmful organisms are presented and the main features of their application are described. For all subchapters, learning outcomes are clearly stated, i.e., what the reader should know and be able to do after mastering a certain part of the material. Review questions at the end of each subchapter allow the reader to review what he or she has learned. The handbook covers topics that are very current, intensively worked on, and therefore not adequately covered in contemporary literature. The work provides comprehensive knowledge for the organization and implementation of plant protection training in organic agriculture and also gives practical advice for the organic protection of five important agricultural crops (potatoes, apples, vines, peppers and onions). It is aimed at all those who are active in organic farming and who wish to receive further training, in particular participants in the training program for plant protection in organic farming according to the program on the web platform https://topplantportal.eu/ .
