The Courier & Advertiser (Perth and Perthshire Edition)
The challenges of crop production
A conference in Dundee this month will tackle head-on the challenges of sustainable food crop production and pull together a mix of farmers, agronomists, policy-makers, scientists, agrochemical experts and students. Professor Fiona Burnett, head of crop a
No one needs to tell Scottish farmers about the challenges of farming in tight weather windows and in the extremes of a northern climate but the issues around successfully producing crops in the north of Britain differ markedly from those in the balmy south.
Scotland produces some of the highest yielding and best quality crops in the world in one of the most beautiful environments.
Despite some of the challenges presented by the climate there are advantages too such as long day lengths and lower levels disease problems.
But with a changing climate and high levels of plant imports the threat of new diseases and pests, or new more virulent and successful strains of existing plant health problems, is ever present, and regulatory changes can also reduce available control options.
Threats to crop productivity will be a recurring theme at the Environmental Management and Crop Production conference in Dundee and because Scotland attaches a particular value to of some pest and its countryside and wild spaces, one of the challenges in food production is how to do this sustainably with minimal impact on the environment.
The opening session will look at issues such as pesticide usage, the impacts of policy restrictions and the use of integrated practices which can reduce reliance on chemistry.
Soil health will also be covered with talks on how we can measure and improve the health of soils and raise crop yields.
There has been a lot of recent press coverage on pollinators and the conference has a history of meeting contentious issues straight on.
Technical sessions on combinable crops will open with a keynote presentation on the impact of policy and regulation on accessing new products.
Details of new products are always exciting and this year the conference will enjoy presentations on not only a new fungicide, but also a new herbicide.
Good news is often balanced by bad so the session continues with a keynote presentation from Dr Andreas Mehl, from Bayer, who is a representative on the global Fungicide Resistance Action Committee.
He will set out some of the many emerging issues we have with resistance to current chemistry.
On the second day the program shifts to considering some of the particular plant health issues that affect Scotland.
Scotland sets high store by its high health status and post-Brexit could consider measures which deviate from current plant health regulatory or pesticide measures.
The newly-appointed chief plant health officer for Scotland, Professor Gerry Saddler, will speak on the challenges and opportunities and his vision for plant health in Scotland, and Professor Ian Toth, from the James Hutton Institute, will discuss what Scottish science is doing to help with solutions and support plant health initiatives.
The conference finishes with a session on potatoes which is always packed.
For more information on the Environmental Management and Crop Production conference being held at the Apex Hotel in Dundee on February 27 and 28, search for CPNB 2018, Dundee.