We’ve put together some footage from an event last month where we spoke to three French farmers with varying opinions on the use of pesticides in farming: one believes they are essential, another states that he does not need pesticides at all, while a third, who uses Integrated Pest Management techniques on his farm, comes somewhere in between. Interesting viewing.

Following our visit to the Efyasa farm in Spain, we spoke to chief agronomist José Luis Ripolles. He mentioned the quality issue arising from attacks by the California Red Scale pest; the limited use of pesticides in citrus fruit farming in Spain; and the fact that the five year exemption on irreplaceable pesticides being touted by the EU will not actually help him. View the highlights in the video below.

We attended an event in Isla Cristina in southern Spain earlier this month at the Efyasa orange farm, which operates on the principle of Integrated Pest Management, an approach that uses a complimentary array of methods to control pests in an attempt to reduce reliance on pesticides.

In this debate, focus has tended to be on yields, but in the video clip below, the chief agronomist at Efyasa, José Luis Ripolles, and his colleague Rafael Fernandez, largely speak about fruit quality. They are in the awkward predicament of having been able to grow oranges containing limited to zero residues, but then not being able to sell them because quality has been compromised by attacks from the California Red Scale pest, which leaves unsightly stains on the surface of the oranges. Quite a Catch-22 situation, considering that customers expect fewer residues AND stainless, perfect-looking fruit: it appears that it has to be, certainly in this case, one or the other.

We attended the Healthy Foods Summit in London earlier this week with our trusted handycam. Following the keynote debate on food production, we spoke to two of the panel members, Helen Browning, Food and Farming Director at theSoil Association and Caroline Drummond, Chief Executive of LEAF, an association that specialises in integrated farm management techniques, and the moderator, Dominic Dyer of the Crop Protection Association,  to get a full spectrum of views on the ongoing revision of the European pesticides regulation.

Please click on the respective images below to see some snippets from each interview.

In this clip, Philip Huxtable speaks about Integrated Farm Management (IFM) on his farm. European farmers are increasingly adopting and developing IFM, which combines traditional farming methods with modern technology and products: ‘the best of both’. This approach combines techniques such as crop rotation to prevent the build-up of certain pests in one field, choosing varieties of crops which are more resistant to disease, crop sanitation, and biological controls i.e. promoting beneficial insects that eat target pests, and only using pesticides (chemical crop protection) as the last line of defence.

If you are interested in knowing more about Integrated Farm Management, we recommend this report by DEFRA, the UK government Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.

Earlier this week, we attended a farm visit at JSR Farms in East Yorkshire, United Kingdom (disclosure: the event was organised by ECPA). The event was an “information day” for the press, aimed at providing a farmer’s opinion on the effects the proposed revision of the current pesticide legislation (Directive 91/414) will have on his ability to grow food. The farmer in question was Philip Huxtable, an agronomist with 30 years experience as a farmer, and currently the Managing Director of JSR Farms. Below you will see a few short clips from the visit in which Mr. Huxtable gives his opinion on what is driving the legislative process, potential impacts on yields, as well as his closing statement from, as he put it, his “political soapbox”!

Next week, we will be posting some entries in which Mr. Huxtable speaks in more detail about pest management on single crops, such as wheat and potatoes, the threat posed by plant diseases such as septoria and blight, as well as his use of integrated farming techniques, to not only protect his crops, but the environment and wildlife on his farm.

Of course, Mr Huxtable’s statements very much represent a farmer’s views. We would recommend that you listen tothis report from BBC Humberside radio by Chris Arundel, who was also present at the event, which seeks to provide a more balanced view of the issues (Mr. Arundel interviewed Elliott Cannell of the Pesticide Action Network, an anti-pesticides NGO).