Scotland's Plant Health Centre - Key principles to minimise plant health risks

PLAN NOW FOR FUTURE CHALLENGES Designing, modifying and managing systems to increase their resilience can reduce the impacts of pests and pathogens in future. This will be multi-facetted and apply to choices over specifications, actions on the ground, training and research. • Maintain awareness of current and emerging potential plant health threats, and consider the wider impacts of your choices, and adapt systems accordingly • Encourage diversity in agricultural, horticultural and forestry systems (including diversity of varieties, species, resistance types, site-rotation and age classes) • Plan well ahead to ensure adequate locally-grown stocks of plants are available • Adopt integrated pest management practices and facilitate the development of new and improved biocontrol methods • Expand the use of new technologies for the detection and management of plant health threats Positive activities which already exemplify this principle • Rapid outbreak responses and coordinated action (e.g. Asian longhorn Beetle; Oak processionary moth – once realisation it had been imported in 2019) • Development of disease resistant varieties (e.g. of potatoes against PCN) • Producers work together voluntarily to improve health status of the plants they are cultivating and lessen the wider plant health risk (e.g. trade in Poinsettias) Further activities which could be taken to underpin this principle • Investment in plant/tree nurseries to enhance growing capacity to meet demand from land use change and for large scale infrastructure projects • Shift to longer term contract growing and expansion of local seed collection • Improved Risk assessment of any potential new species for potential plant health issues • Further improvements to horizon scanning, including consideration of early warning systems (e.g. greater surveillance efforts linked to information sharing)