Regulation of Plant Protection in Organic Farming

Organic farming is a system approach aiming at a sustainable ecosystem, safe food, good nutrition, animal welfare and social justice. Quantitatively, organic farming is still of minor importance, but it is one of the most rapidly growing agricultural sectors worldwide. The new EU ‘organic regulation’ consists of a framework regulation, complemented by implementation rules and guidelines. Other important regulations/standards are the National Organic Program of the USA, the guidelines of the Codex Alimentarius and the basic standards of the International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements (IFOAM). Under all these standards, plant protection is strictly regulated. Organic plant protection follows a clear hierarchy: primarily, plant health is maintained by preventative measures. Only if these methods are insufficient, plant protection products may be used. However, only a very limited range of substances is authorized (substances of plant or animal origin, micro-organisms and a few other substances). In the EU, new substances can only be authorized if they are consistent with organic farming principles, necessary for sustained production, and if they are of plant, animal, microbial or mineral origin. Case studies for the codling moth and potato late blight illustrate that the practices of organic plant protection in Europe differ significantly from one country to another. The codling moth is mainly controlled by mating disruption, Bacillus thuringiensis, and Cydia pomonella granulosis virus (CpGV). To what extent spinosad will be used in the future is not yet clear, as it was authorized for organic farming only recently. To avoid the late blight epidemic, organic farmers use a variety of management practices. Within the constraints of the market, they also avoid susceptible varieties. For direct control of late blight, copper fungicides are the only plant protection products authorized in organic farming, but they cannot be used in all EU countries, and there are quantitative restrictions in some countries.