‘Social distancing’ in arable farming: stripcropping can reduce the risk of pests and diseases [Practice Abstract]
Stripcropping is often regarded as a system that enhances resilience. But does it indeed increase biodiversity, and how does this affect pests and diseases? A factsheet for farmers summarizes recent research.
In crop protection, we distinguish between mobile and immobile diseases and pests. Mobile pests and pathogens can disperse by wind, flight, or vectors such as insects, while immobile ones are largely soil-bound and move little, if at all.
Because stripcropping increases crop diversity, it can help reduce risks from mobile, generalist pests and diseases. However, it can also alter cropping frequency, potentially raising risks of immobile, host-specific problems if rotations are not carefully designed.
For mobile pests and pathogens, strips act as barriers. By separating rows of the same crop with different crops, disease transmission is slowed, analogous to ‘social distancing’ in human epidemics. The effectiveness depends on strip width, crop diversity, disease biology, and local pressure. For instance, an aphid carrying beet yellows virus will encounter more obstacles if beet strips are separated by other crops.
A similar principle applies to some immobile pests and diseases. Intervening strips can reduce spread within fields, though cross-strip transmission remains possible. To address this, the ‘hop-skip-jump’ rotation (leaving at least one strip gap before replanting a susceptible crop) can prevent soil-borne diseases and hinder pests such as Colorado potato beetle larvae from reaching adjacent strips in the following season.
Finally, greater crop diversity in strip systems creates more feeding and habitat opportunities for both pests and their natural enemies. The resulting ecological balance can enhance system resilience, buffering against outbreaks and contributing to sustainable pest and disease management.
Keywords: Arable, Biodiversity, Stripcropping
Country: Netherlands
