TECHNICAL TALKS ON VEGETABLES / Rule for decision-making in vegetable crop protection: a management, monitoring and training tool

DECIlég

In a current context that favours alternative methods to phytopharmaceuticals, the vegetable sector has been focussing on whole crop systems when designing pest and disease management strategies. In order to assist with this effort, the DECIlég project, backed by the ECOPHYTO framework and certified by the GIS PIClég, is committed to collecting, formalising and making the low-input rules of decision (RoD) accessible for the 12 main vegetable crops in the French sector. These rules provide a description of the rationale applied by farmers/experimenters when launching farming practices. They focus on the pest vs. crop combination in a given cropping system and in a given area. They strive for an integrated crop protection.

These rules facilitate the activation and combination of the various agro-ecological levers available. This information is formally documented in workshops that bring together technicians, experimenters, as well as academics, researchers and producers. These workshops are held remotely (video conference) and foster discussions between participants from different regions. This makes it possible to compare (often implicit) practices and initiate potential changes in different production areas. A common format was designed in order to facilitate the development, dissemination and understanding of these RoDs.

As a result, following 16 workshops during the 2020/2021 campaign and 21 during the 2021/2022 campaign, 264 rules of decision, including 90 compatible with organic farming, have been drafted. Currently, 120 RoDs are readily available on the GECO (ecophytopic.fr) sharing platform, with the aim of making this advisory tool available to as many people as possible, and in particular to both experienced and trainee field workers and teachers.

Producers will eventually be provided with a concrete tool that will allow them to cope with the hazards inherent to crop management. Yet, for this system to be sustainable, users must continue to find its application relevant. Therefore, these RoDs must be further enhanced and updated to keep up with evolving techniques and thus meet the actual needs identified in the field.