New tools to manage and assess orchard Functional Agrobiodiversity (FAB)

Summary

The EcoOrchard project (2015-18) has produced a handbook on FAB assessment in dialogue with growers and advisors and a technical guideline for FAB orchard management.
Orchards are perennial cultures, and, especially in organic fruit production, it is essential to design and manage orchards in a way which favours predators and parasitoids over pests. Increasing plant biodiversity and habitats in such a way that beneficial organisms are favoured is called Functional Agrobiodiversity (FAB). The value of FAB for reducing pesticide use in fruit production is generally acknowledged, and many organic fruit growers try to increase it in spite of a shortage of information on FAB, economical and technical challenges and lack of situation-specific, detailed advice. To improve this situation, ECOORCHARD combined several complementary approaches and prioritizes making information and tools about FAB available to practitioners.