Growers and livestock producers are invited to help develop a new Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) standard for Integrated Pest Management (IPM).
This new Defra-funded project will develop tools and guidance to provide reliable information for farmers, growers and advisers making IPM decisions – and reward successful applicants who adopt IPM techniques.
The SFI aims to help farmers manage land sensitively. The IPM standard will focus on ways that combine, cultural, biological, physical and chemical tools to manage diseases, weeds and invertebrate pests in an environmentally sensitive way.
To support the standard, an online IPM decision-making tool is being developed. It will help farmers produce IPM plans specific to their farm and cropping systems. Practical guidance will be created on how to use this online tool.
ADAS technical director Neil Paveley said “With key active substances disappearing from the market and resistance on the rise… we need growers to get involved in the development now so [the SFI] is relevant and useful for all growers.”
Information gathered from this process will inform the SFI standard for IPM, which is due to be rolled out in 2023. For further details, please email ipm@adas.co.uk.
