Status quo of weed management in organic farming in the new EU member states and the acceding countries

Under the EU Specific Support Action (SSA) Project CHANNEL ("Opening Channels of Communication between the Associated Candidate Countries and the EU in Ecological Farming") a survey about plant protection, organic seed and propagation material, animal husbandry, agricultural technology, weed management and soil fertility is being conducted in 15 Member and Acceding States. The data collection has been aimed at i.) legal and administrative framework, ii.) status quo in practice and iii.) scientific basis. First results of the weed management questioning of the target group "Experts engaged in practical farming" are presented as a comparison between countries. The analysis shows that a small group of weeds can be identified as main target species for weed management. Alien species are reported from almost all countries and can be identified as a upcoming problem in organic farming. There is conformity among the different countries as regards the choice of prevention tools, whereas there is an obvious lack of modem equipment available to practice mechanical weed control.