Sustainability Assessment of Plant Protection Strategies in Swiss Winter Wheat and Potato Production

Abstract

Production of arable crops in Switzerland is subsidized for services performed within the Proof of Ecological Performance (PEP) program, the crop protection part of which is based on IPM principles. Within PEP, chemical insect control must rely on those approved insecticides that are deemed harmless for beneficial arthropods. Approved insecticides potentially impacting beneficial arthropods may also be applied, but only if unavoidable and with an official permit. In order to assess the ecological and economic sustainability of this PEP program, a reference insecticide strategy illustrating the current PEP requirements was compared with other strategies. For this purpose, a sustainability assessment taking account of ecotoxicological risks and economic viability in addition to the preservation of beneficial arthropods was performed according to the SustainOS methodology. The results show that the one-off use of Audienz (spinosad) to control cereal leaf beetle (Oulema melanopus)-a key pest in winter wheat-would significantly improve sustainability vis-à-vis the reference (Nomolt (teflubenzuron) plus Biscaya (thiacloprid)). However, in the case of the Colorado potato beetle (Leptinotarsa decemlineata), in potato crops, where Audienz is considered the reference, no alternative would exhibit better sustainability. Moreover, the study shows that strategies using Novodor (Bacillus thuringiensis) protect beneficial species well but have the drawbacks of increased yield risk and higher costs. The conclusions drawn from these analyses allow recommendations for modifications of the PEP requirements for these two pest insects. The SustainOS methodology, a multi-step process combining expert knowledge with quantitative assessments including a sensitivity analysis of key target parameters and a rule-based aggregation of assessment results, yielded valuable insights into the sustainability of different crop protection strategies.

Food loss reduction from an environmental, socio-economic and consumer perspective – The case of the Swiss potato market

“…For investigating the environmental and socio-economic consequences of the potato loss reduction scenarios 89 simultaneously, the SustainOS methodology (Mouron et al, 2012) was applied which combines different 90 attributes to an overall sustainability index. This methodology was developed to compare several plant protection 91 strategies in fruit production (Mouron et al, 2012), but Mouron et al (2016) already demonstrated that the 92 method can also be applied for arable crops such as potatoes or wheat. The approach basically consists of five 93 elements as described in Figure 2.…”