Written by cpm
Download PDF Farmers and scientists are working together on a major new study aimed at determining just how useful beneficial insects are for crop performance. CPM visits an Oxon farm that’s taking part. We cannot continue to farm without maintaining the ecosystem on which it depends. By Tom Allen-Stevens Julian Gold lifts the tile on his slug trap to reveal no fewer than three slugs enjoying the layers mash he’s provided – not much of a surprise, bearing in mind the rain that’s lashing down. But quickly scurrying away to hide is a carabid beetle. “We’re all quite aware of treatment thresholds for slugs and how we monitor these. But there’s no reliable data on thresholds for beneficial species nor how we take account of them. If we really want to deliver on our goals for Integrated Pest Management (IPM), we should be monitoring the two together,” he says. There are treatment thresholds for slugs but currently no reliable data on thresholds for beneficial species, such as carabid beetles. The slug trap is at least 100m from the field edge, which would be a considerable distance from the traditional refuge area of a carabid beetle, a known predator of slugs.…
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