Biodiverse planting on vegetable farms
This project aims to manipulate the abundance of beneficial insects on vegetable farms to reduce pests in crops by adopting existing knowledge as proof-of-concept trials in NZ vegetable cropping situations.
The objective is to demonstrate how increasing biodiversity on vegetable farms can result in more beneficial insects, fewer insect pests in crops, and less insecticides required. This is achieved through planting of beneficial native perennials and annual flower species to provide a continuous source of shelter, nectar, alternative food and pollen to attract and maintain beneficial insect populations.
