Bio-control of soft fruit pests is becoming increasingly complex and so must be backed up with solid on-farm support based on expert knowledge and experience.

That's the argument put forward by Mark Davies, the commercial head of fruit at Agrovista UK as the UK soft fruit industry increasingly pioneers the use of natural predators and integrated pest management systems in field-grown crops.

The advent of tunnels and, more recently, the move to substrate-grown crops has helped the technology move on apace, creating an environment more conducive to the successful use of predators.

As a result, the control of pests such as two-spotted spider mite and western flower thrips have become relatively simple, with use of the predatory mites phytoseiulus persimilis and amblyseius cucumeris (now neoseiulus cucumeris), respectively.

However, as chemistries disappear and new invasive pests, such as the spotted wing drosophila, spread then planning and monitoring of programmes has become more complex.

Mr Davies pointed out that it was obvious that the commoditisation of the bio-control market, along with an apparent lack of support from some quarters, had resulted in some growers spending an awful lot of money on a product that has every opportunity of failing. That was due to applications that are either late, damaged by subsequent spray programmes, or unnecessary in the first place.

"If bio-control is to build on its recent successes, companies must be prepared to add value for their grower clients, rather than being seen as yet another cost," he said. "They must invest in on-farm support to ensure the technology delivers, protecting yield and quality and delivering good returns on investment."

In recent weeks, Agrovista increased its UK fruit team by two to help meet this need. David Taylor and Simon Warren are both experienced in the use of bio-controls in soft fruit and there work will be done in conjunction with its bio-control partners.

"Using farm history, as well as crop walking, we successfully build programmes before the season begins and compose a delivery schedule," he said. "This initial process gives a grower confidence that the product will arrive on time and fresh, even in times of high demand.

"It also allows the grower to build a labour requirement in to his farm plan, so that products can be applied as soon as they are delivered.!

Regular farm walks supports the farm’s agronomy provision, which enables programmes to be altered according to pest pressure. This might mean treating hotspots, increasing rates broad acre, or reducing or removing applications if no longer necessary, he added.

* Agrovista works closely with Koppert UK, part of Koppert Biological Systems, which is world leader in bio-control with 50 years of experience in this field.