RDE 451 - IPM instructional videos

Description

In order to encourage farmers and growers away from prophylactically spraying pesticides to their crops, we need to be able to inform them of the alternative strategies and more importantly how to implement them effectively. IPM covers a broad range of strategies from using forecasting to predict incidence and timing of a pest to targeted spraying of pesticides only where and when needed to growing disease resistant varieties. When discussing barriers to IPM with farmers, they often quote lack of knowledge as a key issue. Disseminating knowledge about best practice with IPM strategies is therefore key to increasing uptake. We plan to commission a set of instructional videos covering both the theory and practice of IPM to upskill farmers in an accessible bitesize way. Increasing uptake of IPM across farmers will hopefully lead to a reduced reliance on synthetic chemicals and a knock-on reduction in the speed at which pesticide resistance develops in crop pests and diseases. This contract was awarded by DEFRA.