Diversified rotations in protected vegetable production systems

Problem

In protected vegetable systems of the Mediterranean area, rotations are based on a limited number of species and botanical families. In the long term, this favours the development of soil pests and diseases.

Solution

In order to diversify rotations, a workshop brought together DiverIMPACTS case study 25 (CS25) participants including farmers, technicians, marketers and scientists, to highlight the importance of:

•  including summer crops of variable cycle length in order to allow the implementation of soil solarisation (thermal soil disinfection based on solar energy)
•  including green manures at different times of the year
•  choosing species that allow cycle shifts to desynchronize pest cycles but also that take advantage of market opportunities.