Conventional management

The conventional treatment is the standard management practice for each crop in terms of cultivation, inorganic fertiliser, herbicide, pesticide and fungicide applications.

The number of applications and their timing will reflect standard commercial practice for the region and will be sufficiently flexible to respond to weed, pest and disease issues as they arise and to track changes in standard practice over time.

Sustainable management

The sustainable treatment will be based on reduced inputs balanced against alternative management to attempt to compensate for resulting yield loss

a)      Pesticides. Integrated pest and disease management strategies will be used to compensate for lower pesticide inputs, including natural biocontrol and the use of resistant crop varieties.

b)      Herbicides. Herbicide applications will be reduced to allow the development of a weed understorey sufficient to support viable populations of non-target invertebrates.

c)      Fertilisers. Nutrients will be supplied in alternative forms including nitrogen-fixing by leguminous species (undersown cereals), overwintered green manures before a spring sown crop, and addition of municipal compost. Soil nutrient management will be a balance of these renewable sources, topped up with bagged NPK fertiliser to maintain yields. As soil fertility builds up over time, the need for bagged NPK fertilisers will decline and eventually be replaced altogether.

d)     Tillage. Conventional tillage will be replaced by minimum tillage where appropriate.