Today the horticulture industry is facing stricter chemical regulations then previously.
There is a significant move towards the use of safer and more environmentally sustainable pest and disease control measures. Evolving pest resistance is another factor influencing growers (in many regions of the world) to move away from traditional synthetic sprays. Instead, they are turning to technology driven and biologically smart agriculture.
Keeping crops safe is obviously in the minds of most growers but so is their bottom line - here are the top trends in plant protection reshaping horticulture across the world:
🌏 Biocontrol is fast becoming standard practice using predatory insects to control thrips, aphids and mealybugs. Beneficial microbes are also usedg. seed treatments, soil inoculants, or foliar sprays are used particularly in greenhouse, glasshouse and polytunnel growing.
🌏 AI detection, drones, and precision ag (precision farming) are methods that can be used in modern horticulture and farming. For example, rather than spray an entire field, growers are using smart monitoring systems with drone imagery. In this example AI-powered cameras and in field sensors detecting early signs of disease and pests in isolated spots before they spread. On ground robotics and drones are being used to apply targeted treatments. Once identified the technology automatically responds.
🌏 Sensors and the Internet of Things (IoT) are also being used to assess soil moisture and weather sensors monitor changing conditions and do so in micro-detail.
🌏 Variable Rate Technology (VRT): The sowing of seeds and fertiliser use are adjusted automatically through the use of smart farm equipment based on mapped data.
🌏 GPS (Global Positioning System) & GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite System) are used for the automatic steering of farm machinery is used to reduce over-lapping and to produce perfectly straight planting rows.
🌏 Integrated Pest Management (IPM) is the next generation. IPM has become the core structure of modern horticulture, programs have become highly structured and multi-layered. By using beneficial bacteria to disrupt pest reproduction alongside targeted sprays, farms are lowering costs and reducing crop waste.
🌏 Horticultural netting - by changing the environment in this way, crops are protected from certain pests e.g. birds or bats eating fruit, moths laying larvae or fruit fly.
🌏 The increased use of soilless growing methods e.g. hydroponics, to circumvent soil borne diseases and soil fumigants.
🌏 Continuing Professional Development means educating yourself and your staff to be aware of the latest changes in technology available to you as a grower.