The use of plant protection products is restricted in organic farming, so controlling pests and diseases by prevention is the best way to deal with them. Using resistant varieties, mixtures of varieties or species and healthy seed are all ways to take preventative action. Designing crop rotations that break up the pest or disease development cycle is another. You can also adapt your crop cultivation techniques and timings to avoid difficulties. Lastly, cultivating biodiversity in and around fields benefits the natural enemies of pests, and so may help to control them. When planning crop rotations you should take into account the fact that although diseases are a common cause of yield loss in many arable crop species, severe problems with pests are mostly limited to rapeseed and potato crops.

On this page, you can find tools and resources that can help you design a robust management plan for pest and disease control, and you can discuss the topic with others.