Effects of landscape and region on pests and pathogens in Brassica vegetables and oilseed rape

Summary

Pests and pathogens of Brassica vegetables and oilseed rape are mainly managed at a field level. Management of pest insects at a farm level is only suitable for farmers owning compact areas of land, which is not the case in many central European areas. This situation favours direct, short-term control of mobile pests and pathogens over preventive, long-term strategies to lower the overall population level. Regional or area-wide control is difficult to establish because it requires considerable collaboration between neighbouring farmers. In addition, research institutions usually lack the appropriate size of farms to prove that these strategies can have a reliable efficacy which would warrant greater efforts by farmers to collaborate on a regional basis. Nevertheless, the density of Brassica production in an area, landscape parameters, and the management strategies of neighbouring farms are important factors influencing pest and disease pressure.