Resilient Cropping Systems Start with Plant Breeding

Discussions about crop protection often revolve around the use of crop protection products. Understandably so, says Robert Graveland, but in his view that is not where the story begins. “With breeding, you prevent a problem instead of having to control it later,” he explains.

If we wait until a disease appears in the field, we are constantly trying to solve something that could have been addressed at its source. “Everything you solve through breeding no longer needs to be controlled later, or only to a much lesser extent,” says Robert.

According to him, breeding forms the foundation of the entire chain: “Anything that does not meet the highest standards in breeding must be managed somewhere else in the chain later on. If you solve it in breeding, the rest of the chain can build on that.”

This highlights a fundamental difference in thinking. Crop protection is often focused on managing problems, while breeding focuses on preventing them.

The term resilience is increasingly used throughout the industry. According to Robert, however, resilience is about much more than disease resistance alone. “Ultimately, a resilient variety is a reliable variety.” A variety must perform consistently under a wide range of conditions, not only when the season is favourable, but also when weather patterns become less predictable.

Robert believes this is becoming increasingly important. Dry years, wet years, heat stress and changing disease pressure mean breeders are constantly faced with new challenges and trade-offs, including in the Netherlands. “We are seeing more extremes. That affects the resilience of the plant. A variety must be able to cope not only with diseases and pests, but also with changing environmental conditions.”

For growers, that reliability translates into something very tangible: confidence. According to Frank van der Werff, growers want to know exactly what a variety will deliver.

“They want a variety that provides yield, quality and performs as expected.”

Resistant varieties are often seen as a simple solution that could eliminate the need for crop protection altogether. According to Robert and Frank, reality is more nuanced. Some resistances, such as certain virus resistances, are highly stable. Others, including resistance to Phytophthora, can eventually be overcome as pathogens adapt over time. This leads to an important insight: a resistant variety is not the finish line, but rather a head start that must be carefully managed.

That is why resistance management remains essential alongside breeding strategies. “With certain resistances, you still need targeted protection to prevent the pathogen from adapting. In doing so, you protect the long-term effectiveness of the variety itself,” Robert explains.

Even a highly resistant variety does not immediately change an entire farm operation. As long as not all varieties in a grower’s portfolio are virus resistant, aphid control, for example, remains necessary for the others. Frank believes this is perhaps the biggest misconception in the current debate. “A resistant variety does not mean a grower can sit back and relax,” he explains. “Growers always have choices and opportunities to reduce disease pressure. By combining multiple measures, you can achieve a great deal.”

Ultimately, it is the combination of genetics, crop management practices, crop rotation and professional expertise that determines how resilient a cropping system really becomes.

This is where Integrated Crop Management (ICM) comes into play. The Dutch Crop Protection Covenant places strong emphasis on ICM and at Royal HZPC Group we fully support that approach. According to Frank, sustainability is not achieved through a single measure, but through the combination of multiple building blocks. “It is a combination of genetics, crop management measures and crop protection. One cannot exist without the other.”

In addition to choosing the right variety, many other factors influence crop resilience, including soil health, water management, fertilisation, monitoring and crop rotation. “Growers always have options to reduce disease pressure. By combining different measures, you can achieve a lot,” says Frank.

Knowledge of resistance and resilience has increased significantly in recent years. Breeders now have a much better understanding not only of how resistance works, but also of how pathogens behave and adapt. “We have learned that diseases do not only adapt to resistances, but also to crop protection products. As a result, we increasingly understand what is required to keep solutions effective over the long term,” says Robert.

At the same time, the impact of climate change has become increasingly clear. A variety responds differently in a dry year than in a wet one, and this growing unpredictability requires varieties that are resilient on multiple fronts, against fungal diseases, but also drought, heat and other abiotic stresses.

Frank also sees new challenges emerging in practice. “Some diseases that were barely visible for years are reappearing. At the same time, new threats are emerging. Stolbur, for example, is becoming an increasing problem in parts of Southern Europe. The disease is spread by leafhoppers, insects that move after periods of warm weather.”

According to Frank, this reinforces the need to view resilience more broadly than crop protection alone.

Looking to the future, both Robert and Frank see significant opportunities for improvement, not only in the acceptance of new varieties throughout the chain, but across entire cropping systems. “Sometimes less can actually be more. A slightly lower nitrogen input can make a plant less susceptible. In some countries, irrigation is still overused. The data generated from these systems enables us to develop increasingly sophisticated crop management models,” says Robert.

Growers and breeders are also learning to think proactively rather than reactively. “What you grow in the summer determines how well it can be stored during the winter. Ultimately, it comes down to learning which measures are most effective at which moment.”

According to Frank, these decisions often begin with selecting the right variety for the right field. “Growers are increasingly looking at the specific conditions on their farms. Soil type, disease pressure and field history all influence decisions that contribute to a more resilient crop.”

He also notes that some growers deliberately choose earlier varieties so crops can stay ahead of certain diseases.

For both Robert and Frank, everything ultimately comes together around one central question: how do we ensure reliable food production in a changing world? For Robert, breeding makes a crucial contribution. “Through breeding, we enable reliable food production on the same amount of land, or even less land than is available today.”

That requires adaptation to changing climate conditions, emerging diseases and pests, and growing societal expectations around sustainability. For Robert, it is not a choice between sustainability and production. It is about achieving both simultaneously. “We need to adapt to the climate challenges ahead of us within economically viable cropping systems that society supports. That is what we work on every day.”

The debate around crop protection is often focused on inputs and product use. Robert and Frank demonstrate that the solution starts much earlier: with the development of strong varieties, intelligent cropping systems, and knowledge, acceptance and collaboration throughout the value chain. 

That is the approach Royal HZPC Group will continue to pursue in the years ahead.