Dehnen-Schmutz, Katharina, MacLeod, A. (Alan), Reed, P. (Peter) and Mills, P. R. (2010) The role of regulatory mechanisms for control of plant diseases and food security — case studies from potato production in Britain. Food Security, Vol.2 (No.3). pp. 233-245. doi:10.1007/s12571-010-0073-4 ISSN 1876-4517.

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Abstract

Being aware of the potentially devastating impacts of plant diseases on food security, governments have designed and employ plant health legislation to prevent or inhibit the worst impacts. The development of such policies in Britain, and latterly in Europe, can be closely linked to disease events that have occurred in the potato sector. We analyse early and current examples of policies governing potato diseases in Britain to identify the decision processes leading to the implementation of such phytosanitary policies and how they have evolved over time and in response to different disease threats. Reasons for developing and implementing phytosanitary policies include the desire to prevent pathogens being introduced (entering and establishing in a new area), the protection of export markets, and the lack of effective control measures. Circumstances in which regulatory policies would not be appropriate could include situations where a disease is already widely distributed, unacceptable costs, lack of exclusion measures, or difficulties of disease diagnosis. We conclude that in general, government policies have worked well in protecting British potato growing over the last one hundred years, despite of the failures of some of the policies discussed here. They have also contributed much to the development of plant health policies for other crops. Voluntary grower initiatives are a new mechanism complementing existing formal policies with an additional level of security that allows individual growers to take on additional responsibility rather than relying entirely on government legislation.

Item Type:	Journal Article
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > HF Commerce S Agriculture > SB Plant culture
Divisions:	Faculty of Science, Engineering and Medicine > Science > Life Sciences (2010- ) > Warwick HRI (2004-2010)
Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH):	Potatoes -- Diseases and pests -- Great Britain, Food security -- Great Britain, Food supply -- Government policy -- Great Britain, Farm produce -- Marketing -- Government policy -- Great Britain
Journal or Publication Title:	Food Security
Publisher:	Springer Netherlands
ISSN:	1876-4517
Official Date:	September 2010
Dates:	Date Event September 2010 Published
Volume:	Vol.2
Number:	No.3
Page Range:	pp. 233-245
DOI:	10.1007/s12571-010-0073-4
Status:	Peer Reviewed
Access rights to Published version:	Restricted or Subscription Access
Funder:	Rural Economy and Land Use Programme (Great Britain) (RELU)

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