PREFACE

Invited and keynote speakers and authors of offered oral papers and posters had the oppurtunity to submit their manuscipts for publication in this volume of the series Acta Holticulturae.

Submitted manuscripts were reviewed by at least two members of the Editorial Board and amended according to the referee suggestions prior to acceptance. The editors could not accept all manuscripts submitted for publication.

The ISHS acknowledges the cooperation received from the Editors on reviewing the manuscripts which was a significant contribution to the overall quality of the publication.

The ISHS Board of Directors


OPENING REMARKS—CHAIR, ISHS FRUIT SECTION

Friends, Colleagues, Honoured Guests,

It gives me great pleasure, on behalf of my many colleagues in the Fruit Section of the International Society for Horticultural Science, to welcome you to this Fourth ISHS Symposium on Integrated Fruit Production, held in conjunction with the Tenth IOBC Symposium on Integrated Protection in Orchards. I have followed very closely the development of our cooperation with the International Organization for Biological and Intergrated Control of Noxious Animal and Plants (IOBC) in the hosting of these meetings. It is now very clear that we are succeeding in our goal of serving the needs of both organizations, bodies that represent a broad spectrum of specialists who share the dream of reduced input, sustainable fruit production around the world.

As many of you know, this symposium is the latest in a series that was conceived at Davis, California in 1986, born at Wädenswil in 1989, and continued at Veldhoven (1992) and Cedzyna (1995). It is a credit to the IFP Working Group and the conveners of each symposium that all of these meetings have resulted in a very well received volume of Acta Horticulturae (Numbers 285, 347 and 422, respectively). It is also important to mention at the outset that at least two prominent European pomologists were involved with this initiative right from the start. I am proud to publicly acknowledge the dedication University of Bonn, and Dr. Walter Múller, Swiss Federal Research Station for Fruit Growing. It os precisely this kind of resolve and dedication to a cause that was needed to achieve the credibility that the IFP concept enjoys today.

Dr. Clem Verheyden, Convener, and members of his Organizing Committee are to be congratulated for assembling an excellent program that addresses, in a very balanced way, the many challenges in intergrated fruit production. New findings on pest and disease prediction, monitoring, and control are complemented with a comparable emphasis on more suitable plant materials, soil and water management, and nutrition concerns. There are also important papers addressing issues related to marketing and the development of IFP guidelines. Thus, with this conference all participants will have the chance to improve their understanding of the wide range of facing IFP practitioners around the world. The issue of Acta Hariculturae reporting this conference will again be a major contribution to the world literature on this timely and important topic.

Both the concept of IFP and the various definitions and protocols now accepted around the world represent important contributions to horticultural science and industry. Indeed, they have forced all segments of the industry, from researchers to producers to marketing agencies, to think seriously about sustainable production systems.

However, it is equally clear that both the concept and the definitions require regular review and updating. This is a major reason for this series of conferences. Each new technology made available to fruit producers and shippers around the world must be reviewed for its compatibility with the IFP concept and its applicability to existing integrated fruit production protocols. The group assembled here this week will thoroughly discuss and debate a number of new technologies and, because we are scientists, the emphasis will be on examining and weighing the evidence. Having heard the arguments and seen the data we will end the week in a better position to make solid recommendations down the road. Hopefully, good decisions in the life of the IFP movement will continue to be our legacy to the fruit producing world.

I am proud of the fact that the IFP Working Group is one of the strongest of the more than 20 groups that comprise the Fruit Section of the ISHS. The strength of this Working group lies in its focus, its membership, its well-attended conferences, and its international mandate. I urge each of you to continue to take an active part in defining its future. As already mentioned, Dr. Walter Müller, an original member and Chair of the IFP Working Group since 1994, deserves a great deal of credit for its success. Since it is my understanding that there will be a new Chair after this meeting, I want to take this opportunity to say a public thank you to Dr. Müller for his great service to international horticultural science. To his successor let me say that the ISHS continues to expect a great deal from this very dynamic group!

Speaking of the ISHS, I know that by maintaining membership in this international body you will be kept informed of future meetings of the IFP Working Group and the many other international symposia on fruit crops research, Clearly, the ISHS is an increasingly valuable asset and a convenient vehicle for those who recognize the importance of international networking.

We are in for a stimulating week of meeting new colleagues, renewing old friendships, sharing ideas and valuable information, and enjoying the hospitality of our Belgian hosts. I wish for us all a happy and successful conference.


INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON INTEGRATED FRUIT PRODUCTION, JULY 27-AUGUST 1, 1998, LEUVEN, BELGIUM

There are 180 registered persons from over 40 countries at this Conference. We are reporting with 60 oral contributions from 29 countries and in addition 38 posters from 24 countries about the latest facts and news of the Integrated Fruit Production-Systems will all kind of fruits around the world.

This conference is again a joint meeting of the International Society of Horticultural Science (ISHS) together with the International Organization for Biological and Integrated Control of Noxious Animals and Plants (IOBC). The last meeting was organised in 1995 by our colleagues of the IOBC-working group “Integrated Plant Protection in Orchards” in Cedzyna, Poland.

I would like to draw your attention again to the definition of Integrated Fruit Production for Pome Fruits as we worked in out in 1994:

In the frame of the IOBC definition for Integrated Production, Integrated Fruit Production (IFP) is defined as the economical production of high quality fruit, giving priority to ecologically safer methods, minimizing the undesirable side effects and use of agrochemicals, to enchance the safeguards to the environment and human health.

I have three expectations of the 1998-Conference:

1. Further improvements of IFP towards “Sustainability” in close contacts with the working groups of organic farming;
2. We have to build up bridges to other disciplines, e.g. other crops than fruits, food industry, medicine, nutritional sciences, marketing;
3. We have to explore more aspects in biological, technical and social fields to improve IFP and to spread it worldwide.

It is our understanding that IFP has to be developed in a dynamic way. We need guidelines to be clear for everybody from the grower to the consumer. We have to improve them alongside with the scientific performance. IFP is a dynamic way.

IFP is a world-wide matter. We are the ambassadors of IFP. We have to bring the idea to everywhere with all our means. It is our great pleasure that IFP is gaining in importance not only in pome, stone and small fruits, but in subtropical and tropical fruits as well. We are convinced that we are on the right way. It is a very democratic one. I am sure that with the active participation at our Conference we will have success and the thanks both by the practitioner of the IFP and the public.