Integrated pest management is mandatory for professional users of plant protection products, but complying is not enough: you must be able to prove it. In an inspection or an audit, what counts is not what you say you do, but what is down in writing. This article explains what the regulation says, which routes exist to demonstrate compliance and which records you should keep up to date so that nobody can claim your treatments were applied blindly.
What the regulation says
The basis is Directive 2009/128/EC, which is transposed in Spain by Real Decreto 1311/2012 (the Spanish Royal Decree of 14 September establishing the framework for the sustainable use of plant protection products). It is always worth checking the consolidated text on the BOE (Spain's Official State Gazette), because it has been amended several times.
There are three key elements:
- Article 10: professional users must manage pests using practices that need little plant protection product, giving priority, where possible, to non-chemical methods. Farms are considered compliant if they are under organic production, integrated production, recognised certification schemes, belong to recognised groups or receive advisory support. For crops with low use of plant protection products, advice is voluntary.
- Article 11: advice is provided by an accredited adviser, following the principles in Annex I, and must be documented. The holder or a person on the farm may give the advice if they qualify as an adviser.
- Annex I: sets out the general principles of integrated pest management.
The eight principles in practice
Annex I lists the principles that pest management must follow. This table summarises them together with the evidence each one usually leaves:
| Principle | What it means | Which record proves it |
|---|---|---|
| Prevention | Crop rotation, suitable varieties, balanced irrigation and fertilisation, hygiene, protection of beneficial fauna | Field operations, irrigation and fertilisation recorded; cultural measures noted |
| Monitoring | Watching for pests through field observations, alerts and diagnosis | Samplings with date, plot, method and result; trap readings |
| Decision-making | Acting on the basis of monitoring and, where they exist, sound thresholds | Sampling that exceeds the threshold and adviser's recommendation |
| Non-chemical methods | Preferring them if they give satisfactory control | Releases, trapping, cultural measures recorded |
| Selectivity | Products as specific as possible | Product and justification in the recommendation |
| Reduced use | Limiting doses and number of applications | Treatment record with quantities and areas |
| Anti-resistance | Alternating modes of action where there is a risk | Treatment history of the plot |
| Evaluation | Checking the effectiveness of what has been done | Follow-up sampling and effectiveness assessment |
Which documents to keep up to date
To be able to prove integrated management, prepare a folder, on paper or digital, with the following:
- Plant protection treatment record, with the details required by Article 16 and Annex III of Real Decreto 1311/2012.
- Advisory documentation: dated and signed recommendations, stating the pest, the plot and the justification.
- Samplings and field observations, ordered by plot and date, including those that gave no reason to intervene.
- Trap readings, if you use them.
- Non-chemical and cultural measures: releases of beneficial fauna, pruning, mass trapping, cover crops.
- Inspections of application equipment, invoices and contracts, which Article 16 requires you to keep for at least three years.
- Applicator licences of those who carry out the treatments.
The thread that links the records
An inspector or auditor does not look at the papers separately: they look for consistency. For example, if there is a treatment on plot 4 on 10 May, there should be a prior sampling of that plot that justifies it, an adviser's recommendation that fits that pest and, a few days later, a follow-up sampling. When that chain is broken, integrated management is called into question even if it was actually done properly.
What they may ask for in a review
Inspections by the authorities and audits of integrated production or private certification schemes do not all follow the same script, but they tend to take the same path. Be prepared for them to:
- Pick a treatment at random from the record and ask for what justifies it: the sampling, the adviser's recommendation and the follow-up check.
- Check the advisory support: that the adviser is accredited and registered and that their recommendations are documented, if your farm is required to have one.
- Review the licences of those who apply treatments and the inspection of the equipment.
- Ask about non-chemical measures and how you protect beneficial fauna.
- Cross-check the plots in the record against those in your declarations, for example using the SIGPAC reference (Spain's land parcel identification system).
If each of those questions has an answer in a dated record, the review is a formality.
Mistakes that leave integrated management unproven
- Treatments with no prior sampling recorded.
- Generic adviser recommendations, with no specific plot or pest.
- Samplings noted only when there is a pest.
- Non-chemical measures that are carried out but not written down.
- Not checking effectiveness after treating.
- Records scattered across notebooks, messages and spreadsheets that cannot be cross-checked.
How Agrimaps helps you prove it
Agrimaps brings a large part of that chain together in one place. Pest sampling shows the status of each pest in each plot against a minimum and maximum threshold, with a comparative chart and the effect of the treatments you carry out. Monitoring gives you the health status of the crop at all times.
Tracking of technical operations records treatments and irrigation and fertilisation orders, with who is responsible for each, and with one button the field logbook is generated in the format required by the authorities, with the SIGPAC plots imported from the online register. Agrimaps helps you comply with current legislation, including Global G.A.P and integrated production. If you also need to submit treatments to the digital farm logbook of your region, GAP handles that.
