Farewell Silent Spring: The New Zealand Apple Story

- Blurb -

Farewell Silent Spring tells the story of how, in the course of 50+ years of dedicated R&D, highly toxic broad-spectrum pesticides were removed from the pipfruit orchards of New Zealand. It shows how spraying by the calendar, regardless of need, has been replaced by pest monitoring, biological control, and sophisticated techniques like mating disruption and selective chemicals that are toxic to pests and safe to beneficial species. Integrated fruit production, and then Apple Futures, as the new programme became known, is shown to be on par with organic production in terms of biodiversity and safety to the environment and human health, while maintaining the premium fruit quality required by export markets. New Zealand apple growers can say farewell to the "Silent Spring" predicted by Rachel Carson in her landmark book of 1962. Written by distinguished fruit entomologist and scientist Howard Wearing, this book is a must-read for all involved in the fruit industry and anyone with an interest in safe sustainable food production. Professionals and students of horticulture, entomology, and pest management will find this book an essential gold-mine of information that they will turn to again and again.