PREFACE

Among consumers resistence increases against the use of synthetic chemicals during the production of edible products, like fruit. Consumers fear for their health. On top of that they are more and more aware of environmental pollution by the use of pesticides and other chemicals used. As a consequence, fruit growers are forced to produce fruit in a consumer's healthy and environment friendly way. Still, fruits should be of first class quality. It is the aim of integrated fruit production to combine these issues.

Initiatives to establish guidelines for the production of integrated fruit were taken at the First International Symposium on Integrated Fruit Production in Wüdenswil in 1989. The International Organization of Biological Control (IOBC) published a first version of "General principles, guidelines and standards for integrated production of pome fruits in Europe". National guidelines were derived from these European guidelines differing substancially one from another. A need for more uniformity arose. During the current symposium it was decided to meet in Bologna in May 1993 to establish a second version of the European guidelines.

Researchers and extension officers meeting each other during the symposium deal with various aspects of fruit growing and have different backgounds. This provoked stimulating and vivid discussions, because integrated fruit production was viewed at from different angles. This approach is caracteristic for integrated fruit production. It is the interaction between and the integration of a whole range of measures which are typical for integrated fruit production.

I wish to express gratitude to all participants for their valuable contributions during the meeting. A special word of thanks is due to all people involved from the organizing institutes and to Jim Quinlan, Neil Hipps and Jean Fitzgerald from Horticulture Research International at East Malling for editorial work.

Bart Heijne, convenor


OPENING ADDRESS AT THE 2ND SYMPOSIUM ON INTEGRATED FRUIT PRODUCTION (VELDHOVEN, THE NETHERLANDS, 24-28 AUGUST 1992

Mr. Chairman, dear colleagues,

In this year in which there is much talk of christopher columbus and America, I want to begin my opening address with wise words, spoken by Seattle, an Indian chief;

"The white man is treating his mother, the earth, and his brother, the air, like merchandise, which he can exploit and sell again as cheap multicoloured beads. His hunger and greed will eat the earth bare and leave nothing but a desert".

In 1855, 150 years ago, these words were spoken by Chief Seattle, Chief of the Duwawisch-Indiana in North-America when the Great Chief of Washington wanted to buy his land. Words from days long past, full of wisdom, but still relevant. And that's why we are here.

I have chosen these words because they express, so well, the two extreme visions of agriculture which exist. These visions are formulated by Vezeijken, senior scientist in integrated farming systems at the Centre for Agrobiological Research here in the Netherlands, as follows:

The market-orientated vision, the vision of the white man, wherein agriculture is the production of plant and animal commodities aimed at maximum profit but minimally regulated, protected or subsidised by national and international laws and agreements.

The other vision, the ecosystem-oriented vision of Chief Seattle is aimed at providing sufficient and sustainable food production. It is based on respect and responsibility for and knowledge of the biosphere and is supported by national and international laws and agreements.

A century and a half after Chief Seattle, mankind has drawn the conclusion that, because of datrimental side-effects, we cannot continue the white man's way of agricultural production. There has to come a change, for our own sake and for that of our planet earth. It is more and more recognized that we have to follow another course. In which direction, you may ask?

I would say in the direction of the ecosystem based agriculture. For sure, it is a distant goal, uncertain, abrouded in fog and mystery, jus like the promised land, and not to be reached in one generation.

But, the road between those two extreme visions is the road of integrated agricultured, which is an intermediate production system wherein multiple goals and methods are integrated. The goals are derived from, or based on, chosen values. Values like supply of good food for eveybody, full employment, high profits, a pure' environment, a diverse nature and landscape as well as good health and well-being.

These values and the priorities given to them by man are changing from time to time and place to place.

For the different agricultural visions, the importance or the priorities of the different values and derived objectives are given in ranking order in table 1.

Table 1 - Priorities of three basic visions on agriculture (Vereijken, 1992)

Values

Market -

integrated

ecosystem

	oriënted	A	B	oriënted
food supply	+	+	++	+++
employment	+	+	++	+++
profit	+++	+++	++	+
non-living environment	+	++	++	+++
nature and landscape	+	++	++	+++
health and well-being	+	++	++	+++

Table 1 shows the extreme visions, but also two stages of integrated production. From this it can be seen that the world integrated in integrated production is related to integration of objectives (i,e, to a multiple-goal approach). In IPM, integrated refers to a integration of methods and measures in past management.

So Where do we stand now? Where exactly, I don't know. But we are on our way end further than three years ago at the first symposium on Integrated Fruit Production at Wädenswil. There, several topics where proposed for further consideration. Everyone would agree with the first topic or goal which stated that reduction in the use of chemicals should go together with preservation or improvement of the intrinsic quality of the fruit. Also, international guidelines are being developed now in many countries. In Europe, workshops have been held on this subject three times already. This joint activity of IOBC and ISHS, started by Dr. Dickler and Prof. Lenz, deserves much applause.

It is a difficult and responsible task to draw up reliable and sensible guidelines in cooperation with so many countries, regions, organisations and consumers. Also, another topic highlighted at Wadenswil, namely research and cooperation. This symposium should not only be a place for exchange of information and development of ideas, but also a starting point for joint research programs. We are obliged by the growers and by the consumers to proceed, because there a many problems to be solved by research ad because time and money are scarce. We can only solve them together.

I wish you all a succesful and pleasant week.


OPENING SESSION ISHS-FRUIT SECTION CHAIRMAN'S ADDRESS

It is an honour for me to chair t his opening session of the 2nd ISHS Symposium on Integrated Fruit Production here at Valdhoven. The Society's Fruit Section thinks very highly of the informal IFP Working Group and of its leader, Dr. F. Lenz. Through relatively young in comparison to the older established working groups of the ISHS, the IFP Group is, nonetheless, very important, because it both cuts across the boundaries of the othe working groups and strivens to introduce new concepts of crop growing designed to secure, in a market economy, safer and healthier produced in a safer and healthier environment. The handful of researchers who gathered three years ago at our first IFP symposium at Wädenswil in Switzerland have today, at the second, become a far larger assembly of scientist who wil engage over the next week in a very intense round of working sessions. Let us take the liberty here of thanking Dr. Heijne and all the members of the Organizing Committee at both the Wilhelminadorp Station and at the HRI, EAst Malling, for their efforts in a job very well done.

We have made great strides forward since that first meeting. For, not only have we stimulated and heightened awareness of the issues, we have engaged in debates on the questions concerning the very state of research and crop production in horticulture itself; Suffice it to recall in this connection the IFP “Manifesto|” approved by the Wädenswil Symposium and disseminated throughout the world. Most importantly, we have also drafted the joint IOSC-ISHS cooperation agreement. A most useful and fruitful pact, this was negoriated largely, and essentially, thanks to the good offices of Dr. E. Dickler and Dr. J. Cross, who laid down the common guidelines of IFP for pome fruits in Europe, based upon the consenus of the various countries involved. Although this agreement is still being perfected in its many details, it is a clear sign of the need for cooperation among the various biological disciplines in pursuit of common goals. These aims can best be achieved by working together to promote the guidelines for submission to the EC and to the individual countries that will be called upon the adopt the policies needed to implement them.

Let we limit my concluding remarks by commenting on two aspects of the Symposium's programmed. It would appear that most of the contributions which will be presented can be classified as technical reports rather than papers on original research, and that the greater part of these reports deal with integrated pest management (IPM). It is to be hoped that, as far as the ISHS is concerned, this trend can be reversed, so that the greater emphasis is placed o research rather than on extension-service issues, and that the full range of IFP issues is givern greater coverage, rather than being largely restricted to IPM alone.

Yet this can only come about if we acquire an integrated view of research, fo extension services and even okf orchard management itself. Such an overall vision calls, in turn, for an integrated and multi-disciplinary approach - one that involves biologists, entomologists, plant pathologists, pomologists, mechanical engineers and economists - for solving, together, the complex issues embodied in the concept of IFP. Nor must we forget the role and importance of Geneticists, in releasing new resistant genotype, and of teh experts in production, quality control, trademark labeling and marketing. Ultimately, however, the success of IFP will depend also on educating growers and consumers alike, so that they can make informed decisions in the field and in the market-place, in the convinction that IFP-grown produce is in their best health and economic interests.

Prof. Silviero Sansavini
University of Bologna - Italy