A recent edition of the European Commission’s Science for Environment Policy fact sheet (‘Natural enemies of crop pests will feature in the future of environmentally friendly farming’) focuses on a review conducted by an international team of experts of the current state of biological control and the measures which could help accelerate its development and use.
The review, ‘Biological control using invertebrates and microorganisms: plenty of new opportunities’, features in BioControl, the journal of the International Organization for Biological Control (IOBC), with the authors including Wageningen UR’s Jürgen Köhl, coordinator of the BIOCOMES project (you can visit the project website here and read an interview with Jürgen here).
In the review the authors describe the important role biological control agents currently play, tracing the history of modern augmentative biological control (ABC) since the 1880s and identifying the hundreds of invertebrate and microbial control agents currently in use around the globe.
The authors note that the market for biological control agents has been growing by 15% a year since 2005. They estimate that the global market for ABC was €1.45 billion in 2015, adding that this represents only 2% of the value of the conventional pesticide market.
They assign the current popularity of ABC due to a number of factors:
They conclude: “We are convinced, however, that ABC can be applied on a much larger area than it is today. We plead in the short term for a pragmatic form of agriculture that is adaptable, non-dogmatic and combines the sustainability gain from all types of agriculture and pest management methods.
“We then propose to move to ‘conscious agriculture’, which involves participation of all stakeholders in the production and consumer chain, and respects the environment and resource availability for future generations. Were ‘conscious agriculture’ to be considered a serious alternative to conventional farming, ABC would face an even brighter future.”
For more information:
Last update: 24/05/2023 - ENDURE © 2009 - Contact ENDURE - Disclaimer