Intensive conventional farming, which includes pesticide, chemical fertilisers and growth regulators application, use of heavy machinery and monoculture aims to maximize crop yield. Nonetheless, it is a dominant cause of biodiversity decline and environmental pollution. Pesticide usage and pesticide residues damage wildlife resulting in a declining number of natural enemies; heavy machinery damages soil structure and monoculture cropping leads to the deterioration of nutrition levels with a corollary of pests outbreaks. There is a growing concern among consumers about the health effects of growing (multiple) pesticide residues in food (1), hence the increasing demand for organically produced food and raising interest among producers to convert their production to organic.
Organic potato producers face some difficulties in terms of dealing with adequate plant nutrients, especially nitrogen application; weed, insect and disease control issues; profitability and marketing issues, among others. Regarding pest management, several non-chemical techniques are used for pest control, including: selection of resistant and tolerant varieties, crop rotation, destroying crop debris, biological control. Crop management includes careful timing of planting and harvest in order to avoid pests, controlled irrigation, understanding pest life cycles and all the circumstances that may influence the plant vitality to prevent damage and forecast threshold levels.
This review focuses on experiences of organic potato production in different European countries, common pests and diseases in potato production and chemical vs non-chemical pest control methods. A briefing is also available at: http://www.pan-europe.info/publications/index.htm).