Through their work together on the Organic-PLUS project, several of our partners have collaborated to write a new paper published in the journal “Organic Agriculture”. The paper maps the current use of the contentious inputs: copper, sulphur and mineral oils which are applied for plant protection in organic horticultural production.
Data on the use of such inputs is currently scarce, so the information was compiled by consulting expert knowledge such as horticultural advisers and farm managers across 10 European countries. Findings include the wide use of copper in citrus, olive, tomato and potato production; that mineral oils are commonly applied to control scale insect, mites and whitefly; sulphur is also commonly used by organic vegetable growers, particularly in greenhouses. The paper is available to all as an open-access document here.
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