Agricologenic Disease. A Review of the Negative Aspects of Agricultural Systems

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Abstract
The term ‘iatrogenic disease’ has been used recently to refer to those defects or diseases occurring in plants or animals which can be directly ascribed to aspects of the husbandry system producing the plants, etc. They are the undesirable side effects of production systems. However, this term is misleading and should probably not be used in an agricultural context. If such terms are necessary, we prefer the more classically correct term of ‘agricologenic’, or farmer-induced disease. This review takes the widest view of the ways in which husbandry systems can detrimentally affect the organisms produced. For example, disease may be induced by the effects of applied agrochemicals on the host plant or on the ecosystem in which host and pathogen co-exist, or may arise from impoverishment of the soil microflora caused by reduction of soil organic matter. The general theme of the review is that the greater the interference with the agricultural ecosystem by increasing inputs of foreign materials and intensive husbandry methods, the greater the tendency to generate agricologenic disease.

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