Growing For The Future: Certis Belchim Project on Sustainable Food Production

Given ongoing European supermarket requirements to reduce chemical residues in produce, Growing For The Future (G4TF) has been further developed by Certis Belchim as a strategic project, committed to our farmers, sustainability and food security.

The G4TF project sets five key performance indicators (KPI):

  • Good control of pests and diseases in crops,
  • Reduction of number of active ingredients of chemical products used,
  • Reduction of chemical residues in fruit,
  • Minimization of the coefficient of environmental impact,
  • Support of farmer’s profitability.

The project on citrus and olive crops has been running for 3-4 years with the main objective of comparing a program using conventional treatments (synthetic chemicals) to produce a healthy, quality crop against the Certis Belchim Zero residue program (CBR0) and Organic program (CBE), where beneficial arthropods have also been evaluated.

To achieve the objectives with the five KPIs, chemical products were combined with Certis Belchim´s organic products for the CBRO program and organic products used in the CBE program.

In the citrus crop Certis Belchim programs presented the same efficacy against pests and diseases as the conventional program; a reduction of active ingredients of between 38%

and 70%; fruit output with zero chemical residues; an environmental impact coefficient reduction of between 21% and 99%; and increased profitability through improved yield for the growers of 14% in some cases.
The Certis Belchim program in olive crops showed better control of the main disease (olive leaf spot) in some cases; reduction of active ingredients, in one case up to 50%; fruit output with zero chemical residues; reduction of environmental impact coefficient between 2% and 17%; and an increase in profitability of between 13% and 23%.

See the conclusions:

Find out more about the Growing for the Future initiative via Certis Belchim’s website, or book your place at World Agri-Tech in London this September 30 – October 1 to connect directly with CEO, Mark Waltham, and the team.