Growing Citrus – Certis Belchim’s commitment to Sustainable Agriculture

Certis Belchim Growing Project has been developed over almost 15 years to help growers meet the increasingly stringent demands of retailers and consumers for quality produce grown sustainably. The citrus project has achieved its aims of reducing chemical application, harvesting residue-free produce, a reduction in environmental impact and high yields ensuring profitability for producers, as demonstrated by the results of this four-year study. The United Nations (UN) estimates that we will go from eight billion people today to about 10 billion in 2050, hence food and agricultural production systems are facing great challenges due to the growing demand for food from a booming population. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) promotes sustain able food in order to help countries around the world achieve Zero Hunger and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The objective of this work is to demonstrate that good production can be obtained using pest and disease control methods, nutrient use and biostimulants in a sustainable way. The study was conducted during the years 2021/22/23/24, comparing conventional agriculture in citrus cultivation versus agriculture where synthetic phytosanitary products (chemical) are combined with biorationals, use of inter-row vegetative strips, and optimization of fertilizer. This Certis Belchim Growing Project showed satisfactory results in the control of pests and diseases, reduction in the use of applied chemicals, residue-free harvesting, reduction of environmental impact and excellent yields.