Biologically based crop protection: the approach to the 21st century
1994
Lenteren, J.C. van (Wageningen Agricultural Univ., Wageningen (Netherlands))
Crop protection during the second part of the 20th Century can be characterized by a strong growth in development and application of synthetic chemical pesticides. In the developed world, pesticide consumption is now levelling of and even decreasing in a number of countries, and this decline in numbers and amounts of conventional pesticides used is expected to continue in the next decade for a variety of reasons. New solutions to pest problems will have to be generated. A drastic change in research approach can be observed where empirical strategies are replaced for methods based on an in-depth understanding of biological mechanisms and relationships. Some biologically based technologies already make up a significant part of the crop protection market, like host-plant resistance to pests and diseases. The use of other agents, like biological control, bacterial, fungal, viral, pheromonal and botanical pesticides is limited but increasing. Public and private research are expanding their investments in biologically based technologies, but significant penetration of these technologies is only expected to occur in the next decades if political forces are involved.
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