Bird Damage Research Articles

Spraying drones: efficacy of integrating an avian repellent with drone hazing to elicit blackbird flock dispersal and abandonment of sunflower fields

Multiple management strategies exist to combat bird damage to agriculture. We explored combining two tools, drones as frightening devices and an avian repellent, to assess effectiveness of an integrated method to deter large flocks on complex landscapes. We evaluated the ability of a spraying drone (DJI Agras MG‐1P) deploying Avian Control (i.e. active ingredient: methyl anthranilate; hereafter MA) or water to elicit abandonment, flock reductions, latency to return, and behavioral changes of blackbirds (Icteridae) foraging in sunflower Helianthus annuus. Following hazing and spraying (MA = 32; water = 32 trials), the percent of flocks abandoning, partially abandoning, or remaining was 56%, 31%, and 13% for MA and 50%, 25%, and 25% for water, respectively. Following full abandonment, 14% more flocks returned following MA (83%) than water (69%), averaging 3.96 min ± 3.51 (SD) to return (MA = 4.12 min ± 4.03; water = 3.73 min ± 2.68). When reduction occurred, average decline was 47% ± 35 (SD) with MA and 44% ± 39 (SD) with water. Site conditions impacted the ability to maneuver the drone and observe flock behaviors, potentially resulting in variables other than treatment explaining the probability of abandonment and flock reduction. When controlling for flock size, number of lift‐offs following water treatments (0.23 min−1 ± 0.17 SD) was statistically less than the pre‐hazing period (0.43 min−1 ± 0.28 SD), however no relationship existed for MA treatments (post: 0.29 min−1 ± 0.32 SD; pre: 0.31 min−1 ± 0.20 SD). This difference may be due to a longer latency to return, decreasing the post‐hazing time period, or flightier birds after MA exposure. We found eight mins of hazing, and a 9‐l tank of repellent, was insufficient to elicit differences between water and repellent applications. We suggest extended hazing or additional negative stimuli (e.g. multiple drones, increased repellent) to increase efficacy.

Hail netting changes to spray droplets and patterns in grape canopies

While hail netting in vineyards provides effective protection to wine grapes (Vitis vinifera L.) from hail, pests, and bird damage, it may also affect the spray efficacy. This study tested the interaction between hail netting and location within the canopy in determining spray droplet characteristics. Two grape cultivars (Petite Sirah FPS 04 and Touriga Nacional FPS 05) grafted onto 1103P rootstock were examined to assess spray coverage, droplet size distribution, and deposition within grapevine canopies under netted and unnetted conditions. Spray droplets were measured using spray cards placed at five locations within the canopy. Significant interactions were observed primarily at the base of the canopy directly above the cordon, where grape clusters are most concentrated. Unnetted Touriga Nacional exhibited higher spray coverage compared to Petite Sirah, attributed to its looser cluster structure. Hail netting standardized all parameters across both cultivars, mitigating the influence of canopy and cluster differences. Hail netting created smaller, uniformly distributed droplets within the canopy, an essential characteristic of effective pest and disease control. Conversely, without netting, larger droplets were unevenly distributed, predominantly settling on the outer and lower canopy sections. Hail netting also maintained deposit densities within recommended ranges, supporting effective pest and disease management without compromising spray coverage. The consistent spray coverage achieved with hail netting across all canopy locations highlights its role in improving application uniformity and grapevine health, leading to evenly ripened, high-quality fruit. Contrary to the perceived risk of reducing spray efficacy, hail netting appears to enhance vineyard spraying outcomes, potentially offsetting netting costs.

Occasional Occurrences and Distributions of Red Billed Quelea (Quelea quelea) Birds on Cultivating Crops during the Belg Season at Raya Azebo District of Tigray, Ethiopia

The Belg season plays a crucial role in the agricultural calendar of the Raya District, particularly due to the shortage of rainfall during the summer season. This seasonal pattern of rainfall scarcity necessitates the significance of the Belg season for agricultural activities in this region. Aim of the study was to assess the Quelea bird incidence and its association agronomic practice and environmental factors. Field survey was conducted in Raya-azebo district during 2024 Belg season. A total of 49 farmers field were assessed for the incidence and prevalence of the quelea bird. Result indicated that out of the assessed fields, 69.39% was affected by Quelea birds the assessed fields. The damage level caused by birds was varied from 0% to 100%. On average, it was determined that approximately 32.37% of the cultivated crops were affected by birds. The mean percentage of crop damage across all kebelles was observed. Ewo had the highest mean damage at 61.45%, followed by Kara-Adishaho at 57.5%. On the other hand, Tsigea experienced a significantly lower damage rate of 1.67% followed by Genete with damage rat of 11%. Independent variables such as crop types, planting time, harvesting time, source of water, and coverage of trees play a significant (p<0.05) role in influencing bird damage in belg season crops. The lowest bird damage percentage were observed in crops planted in middle March, with 6.19% and late May harvesting, with a rate of 19.38%. Adopting practices such as cultivating crops in clusters and planting crops of similar maturity at the same time can be effective strategies for controlling Quelea birds’ damage in agricultural settings.

Deep Learning-based Detection of Bird’s Nests on Power Transmission Towers

Abstract The problem of birds building nests on high-altitude towers has posed a significant hidden danger to the safe operation of long-distance transmission lines. The current manual inspection method is inefficient and costly, while automatic inspection technology still faces challenges in accuracy and efficiency. This article mainly aims to propose a deep learning target detection algorithm YOLOV3 based on convolutional neural networks to monitor and retrieve bird damage faults on power towers. By constructing a large dataset of bird nests on power towers, deep learning training models are used to extract features of the detection targets, and the YOLOV3 algorithm is used to intelligentially identify images with bird damage faults. Experiments show that YOLOV3 can effectively detect bird nests on power towers.

Orchard management factors affecting rates of bud damage to kiwifruit orchards

Although bird damage to fruit crops is well documented, bird damage to flower and leaf buds is relatively understudied. In Aotearoa/New Zealand, bird damage to kiwifruit (Actinidia deliciosa and Actinidia chinensis) buds has been reported to be widespread. However, the responsible bird species and rates of damage have not been investigated, nor is it known if orchard management such as the presence of shelterbelts, and management of swards (grass) between vines or characteristics of the surrounding landscape affect patterns of bud damage. We aimed to identify the bird species responsible for damage to kiwifruit buds, the extent of damage across orchards, and factors correlated with bud damage. A combination of bird surveys, trail cameras, and bud damage surveys were employed across 18 kiwifruit orchards in the Bay of Plenty, Aotearoa/New Zealand. House sparrows (Passer domesticus), chaffinches (Fringilla coelebs), and silvereyes (Zosterops lateralis) were identified as the most frequent species damaging buds. On average, 10% of buds were damaged, but rates of damage varied widely across orchards. Increasing availability of sward seeds was associated with increasing bird abundance but decreasing bud damage levels, potentially because seeds from sward vegetation offer an alternative food source. Shelterbelt volume, block management type (conventional vs organic), and the proportion of vegetation in the surrounding landscape also influenced bird abundance and damage. Understanding which management and environmental factors influence bird abundance and damage may benefit bird management in orchards, such as leaving swards unmown to increase sward seed availability and to reduce bird damage levels to kiwifruit buds.

Participatory Evaluation of Thirty (30) New Rice (Oryza Sativa L.) Lines Developed from Anther Culture under Senegal River Valley Growing Conditions

Rice is one of the most widely used staple foods in the world. However, its production is still very limited compared to the exponentially growing demand. Senegal, with an average consumption of 90 kg/habitant, is the third largest importer of rice in Africa. Aware of the impact of imports on the population, Senegal has set itself the objective of achieving food self-sufficiency by 2022 with an average yield of 5 tonnes/ha. ISRA, through its research, contributes to the achievement of this objective by developing adapted technologies. It is within this framework that a participatory evaluation of 30 new anther culture lines was conducted at the ISRA research station in Fanaye during the hot dry season of 2020. Surveys were conducted among producers through guided tours, while observations and measurements were made to collect agro-morphological parameters and characteristics preferred by producers. The agronomic results analysed and combined with the surveys made it possible to select the 10 best performing varieties. Among these 10 best performing lines, 6 were chosen by the producers. They are KF18134, KF18040, KF18068, KF18103, KF18124, KF18048, KF18005, KF18017, KF18001, KF18024. Crop yield is the first characteristic chosen by the growers. It was followed by short cycle characteristics, panicle load, low bird damage and medium height.

A bird droppings flashover analysis method based on the combination of electric field distortion and spatial electric field distribution

To study the flashover of air gap caused by bird droppings shorting air gap and the influence of space electric field change on it, the distortion electric field simulation, space electric field simulation, and related flashover test of transmission line bird droppings falling process were carried out. By analyzing the specific influencing factors of bird droppings flashover fault, it is pointed out that the electric field distortion caused by bird droppings will affect the spatial electric field distribution around the insulator and thus affect the air gap flashover. This study analyzes the specific causes of bird dropping flashover of transmission line insulators, reduces the number of bird damage trips of transmission lines, reduces the cost of operation and maintenance of transmission lines, improves the intrinsic safety of transmission lines, and ensures the safe and reliable operation of power grids.

Protective covers impact honey bee colony performance and access to outside resources

Protective crop covers are used extensively to protect high-value crops from bird and hail damage, however, these structures may present challenges for honey bees (Apis mellifera L.), the main pollinators in these systems. Some studies have indicated that protective covers result in declines in colony size and resource storage, but few replicated field trials exist. To determine the impact of protective cropping structures on honey bee brood production and resource storage, 14 honey bee colonies were placed inside and outside of protective covers on four blueberry (Vaccinium corymbosum and V. virgatum) farms in northern New South Wales, Australia. We measured changes in brood production, pollen and honey storage, hive weight and ambient hive temperature fortnightly over a 12-week period. Brood production, pollen and honey storage, and hive weight all displayed greater reductions within four weeks of placement under net cover, compared to hives outside of net cover. Although brood and honey metrics gradually increased in all hives during the remainder of the 12-week monitoring period, hives located under protective netting had relatively smaller gains in brood production and pollen storage when compared to hives located outside the protective covering. Hives under protective netting that were in the shade and/or whose entrances were facing south were most impacted by the end of the monitoring period. Our findings highlight the need for protected crop management strategies to consider pollinator health as well as crop pollination needs so that both bee health and pollination services are maintained in these systems.

悬摆式同步覆土水稻直播机的设计与试验

In order to solve the problem of mechanical direct seeding of rice seeds on the exposed soil surface, which is affected by bird and mouse damage, rain and sun exposure, etc., a pendulum-type synchronous soil-covered rice direct seeding machine was developed. In order to clarify the leakage and anti-entanglement performance of the mulching plate, linear function type, quadratic function type and exponential function of the sliding blade mulching plate were designed, and the mulching plate structure, straw distribution spacing and suspension rotation speed were used as independent variables. Using straw entanglement rate and straw interference rate as evaluation indicators, a full-factor experimental study was carried out to determine the optimal structure of the mulching plate; a pendulum-type synchronous soil covering live broadcast EDEM simulation model was established, and field experiments were conducted to verify its synchronous soil covering performance. The test results show that the exponential function of the sliding blade mulching plate has the best performance, and the soil covering rate of the three soil covering plate structures is 87.37~98.54 under the conditions of forward speed 0.6~1.0 m/s and suspension rotation speed 90~150 r/min. %, the covering soil thickness is 5.08~5.84 mm. This research can provide reference for rice mechanical direct seeding technology and equipment.

Agricultural habitat use and selection by a sedentary bird over its annual life cycle in a crop-depredation context

BackgroundModern agriculture has undoubtedly led to increasing wildlife-human conflicts, notably concerning bird damage in productive and attractive crops during some parts of the annual cycle. This issue requires utmost attention for sedentary birds that may impact agricultural crops at any stage of their annual life cycle. Reducing bird-human conflicts requires a better understanding of the relationship between bird foraging activity and the characteristics of agricultural areas, notably with respect to changes in food-resource availability and crop sensitivity across the year.MethodsWe explored how GPS-tagged adult male western jackdaws– sedentary corvids– utilize agricultural areas throughout their annual cycle, in a context of crop depredation. More precisely, we described their daily occurrence distribution and the extent of habitat use and selection consistency with respect to landscape composition across time.ResultsJackdaws moved in the close agricultural surroundings of their urban nesting place over the year (< 2.5 km from the nest, on average). Daily occurrence distributions were restricted (< 2.2 km2), relatively centered on the nesting locality (distance between the daily occurrence centroid and the nest < 0.9 km), and rather spatially stable during each annual life-cycle period (overlap range: 63.4–76.1%). Their foraging patterns highlighted that they fed mainly in grasslands all year round, and foraged complementarily and opportunistically in maize (during sowing– coinciding with the first stages of the birds’ breeding period) and cereal crops (during harvesting– their post-fledging period).ConclusionsOur findings demonstrate the very limited space use by breeding male jackdaws which foraged preferentially in grasslands. We call for future investigations in other agricultural contexts and also considering non-breeders for extrapolation purposes.

Implementation of netting system for production of ‘Calabacita’ dried figs: Effects on pest incidence, fruit quality and mycotoxin occurrence

In recent decades, the increasing demand for dried figs has led to greater sector professionalisation. However, the drying and harvesting process continues to be carried out traditionally. During this time, the fruit can be damaged by various biotic agents such as birds, insects and fungi. Therefore, this work aimed to evaluate the efficacy of a netting system adapted to the fig tree's canopy, compared to those from traditionally managed ones regarding reduced damage by biotic agents and physicochemical quality of dried figs. Fruit damage, physicochemical and microbiological parameters, and mycotoxin occurrence in figs collected from nets were compared to those from traditionally managed ones. The netting system significantly reduced bird damage from 11.93 to 1.02 % and Lepidopteran damage from 8.11 to 3.74 %, while coleopteran damage remained constant. Additionally, this system led to dried figs with greater fruit size, softer firmness and a lighter reddish-brown colour. In contrast, it did not influence the microbial count of moulds. However, its use significantly reduced the levels and occurrence of most of the detected mycotoxins: aflatoxins B1, B2, G1 and G2, ochratoxins A and B, kojic acid, and alternariol. These findings demonstrate its effectiveness in reducing pest incidences and providing dried figs with better physicochemical and hygienic-sanitary quality. This scientific evidence and the improvements that the netting system brings to the harvesting process suggest that its use could lead to more profitable production and have a positive impact on the marketability of dried figs.

Screening pearl millet genotypes for resistance to Striga hermonthica and compatibility to Fusarium oxysporum f.sp. strigae

Pearl millet (Pennisetum glaucum [L.] R. Br., 2n = 2x = 14) is a nutritionally rich and climate-resilient food crop cultivated globally. It is a crucial staple crop in Burkina Faso and the dry Sahel region, encompassing Niger, Mali, and Senegal. However, the yield of pearl millet is relatively low in the region (<0.85 tons ha−1) due to Striga hermonthica (Sh) infestation, bird damage, insect pests, diseases, and low-yielding open-pollinated landrace varieties. The study aimed to screen genetically diverse pearl millet accessions for Sh resistance and compatibility to a Striga bio-control agent, Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. Strigae (FOS), to select contrasting and promising parents for resistance breeding and production. One hundred and fifty genotypes were evaluated in Sh hotspot fields in the rain-fed and greenhouse conditions using an alpha lattice design and two replications in Burkina Faso. Significant differences were recorded among the tested pearl millet genotypes for the assessed agro-morphological and Striga resistance. Days to flowering was significantly delayed in the assessed genotypes due to Sh infestation. Applying FOS on pearl millet seed significantly reduced the mean Striga number in Sh-infested conditions. The following genotypes: IP-3098, IP-6112, IP-9242, IP-10579, and IP-11358 were identified as exhibiting Sh resistance and were compatible to FOS. The pearl millet genotypes supported few to none Sh emerged plants with comparatively low values under the Striga number progress curve. The selected genotypes are useful parents to breed for Striga resistance and integrated management in Burkina Faso and related agroecologies.

Rotation differential triboelectric nanogenerator for bird-repellent on transmission line towers

The security of transmission line towers is crucial to industrial development. Bird damage is a significant threat to transmission line towers in the field. However, the power supply to the bird-repellent devices is limited. In this work, we propose a rotation differential triboelectric nanogenerator (RD-TENG) to harvest wind energy for supplying electrical power to bird-repellent on transmission line towers. On the transmission line towers, the RD-TENG converts wind energy into electrical energy by rotation differential structure and stores power in a 1000 μF capacitor, then supplies power to the buzzer for bird-repellent. The device mainly consists of a wind cup, an input gear, output gears, and rotors. The RD-TENG can achieve double rotation speed by rotating the differential structure compared to the single gear counterpart, hence doubling the current and power output through triboelectric nanogenerator. The RD-TENG has a starting wind speed of 4 m s−1 and can operate normally at lower wind speeds. At a wind speed of 8 m s−1, the output performance of the RD-TENG is 830 V, 13.5 μA, 330 nC, and the peak power is 19.6 mW. This work realizes a new solution for bird-repellent on transmission lines through the TENG energy harvesting technique and also contributes to the subsequent smart grid construction.

Simulation calculation of guano fault hazardous areas in overhead transmission lines in power systems

Guano flashover is the most typical type of bird damage fault, which can be divided into two types based on the formation mechanism: guano spatial flashover and guano pollution flashover. These two types of flashover are harmful to almost all levels of transmission lines. For 110 kV level transmission lines, guano flashover faults account for over 90% of all bird damage faults. Among them, guano space flashover has caused tripping faults in multiple foreign ultra-high voltage lines. From this, it can be seen that finding the mechanism of bird manure fault formation and formulating corresponding preventive measures are of great significance for the safe operation of transmission lines.

Risk assessment of marine litter pollution from maritime industries on seabird habitat

Cases of bird damage caused by marine litter have been reported worldwide. This study represents the investigation in South Korea (“Korea”) focused on the identification and management strategies of marine litter sources targeting seabirds within the context of habitat risk assessment. The purpose of this study is to identify key marine litter stressors affecting seabird habitat and identify ascertain to manage these stressors. Ports, fishing spots, and aquaculture farms where abandoned, lost, or discarded fishing gear (ALDFG) occurs are considered marine litter stressors. Consequently, the principal estuaries in Korea, encompassing the Han River, Nakdong River, and Geum River estuaries, were designated as high-risk zones. Within the maritime industries, it was discerned that marine litter arising from fishing spots exerted the most substantial influence on seabirds. Among the focused seabird species, the Black-faced Spoonbill, Black-tailed Gull, and Great-crested Grebe demonstrated an elevated susceptibility to marine litter exposure. This underscores the potential variability in prioritization and strategies for risk management based on the characteristics of each maritime industry and seabird species. Additionally, it can provide fundamental data for national marine litter monitoring and removal initiatives, and contribute to the efficient budget allocation of government collection projects.

Mitigating Avian Crop Damage Through Innovative Technological Solutions: A Comprehensive Study

Avian crop damage poses a significant challenge to global agricultural production, leading to substantial economic losses and food security concerns. This paper presents a comprehensive study of the impact of avian species on crops, analysing relevant technical papers and proposing innovative technological solutions to mitigate the damage. The study highlights the severity of crop damage caused by birds, focusing on major crops and affected regions. The use of drones and other advanced technologies is explored as potential strategies for crop protection. Through a systematic analysis of existing literature and statistical data, this research aims to provide valuable insights for policymakers, farmers, and researchers working towards sustainable agricultural practices. Keywords: Avian pests, bird damage, crop protection, technological solutions, drones, acoustic devices, visual deterrents, data-driven approaches, case studies, environmental considerations, sustainable agriculture, Crop insurance.

RCVNet: A bird damage identification network for power towers based on fusion of RF images and visual images

The technology for identifying birds around power towers using cameras alone is still susceptible to environmental interference. This paper proposes a new bird damage recognition network, RCVNet, which addresses this issue by fusing radio-frequency (RF) images and visual images. The network employs a feature layer fusion approach that accurately identifies bird damages in the monitoring area. Initially, RCVNet takes a group of RF and visual images as input. Then, through a series of convolutional neural networks (CNNs), birds are identified and located. To overcome challenges in recognizing small targets, several improved modules such as cross-supervised fusion network (CSF-net), posture deformable convolution (PDF), small-target attention fusion mechanism (SAFM), and Tiny-YOLOHead are introduced throughout RCVNet, improving surface information utilization and small feature retention rates. Finally, a bird damage discrimination strategy is developed based on the recognition outcomes of birds. As there is currently no public dataset available for RCVNet training, a new bird dataset called CRB2022, which includes RF and visual images, was gathered. Through large-scale experiments utilizing these methods, RCVNet effectively identifies birds, achieving a mean average precision of 79.34% and a mean average recall of 83.29%. Additionally, the discrimination rate of the utilized strategy can reach up to 98%.

Bird pecking damage risk assessment of UHV transmission line composite insulators based on deep learning

AbstractHere, a method for assessing the risk of bird pecking damage of composite insulators in ultra high voltage (UHV) lines is proposed using electric field (E‐field) simulation and deep learning. The distribution of E‐field on composite insulators is analysed via numerical simulation for different damage locations and damage sizes. Then, using the defective images of composite insulator strings captured in real inspection environments, the corresponding annotation image data set is constructed according to the finite element calculation results of E‐field under different damage conditions, and through the application of the YOLOX deep learning neural network, the risk assessment of the damage caused by bird pecking of insulators for UHV lines is conducted. Furthermore, to prevent overfitting of YOLOX with small‐scale images, transfer learning, as well as data enhancement, are applied to the YOLOX training process. According to the results, the mean average precision (mAP) of the model is 0.79, indicating that it is capable of high accuracy recognition, provides guidance for operation and maintenance personnel.

Disclosing the determinants, drivers and predictors of bird depredation on date palm (Phoenix dactylifera L.) production

Bird intake and damage to fruits of Phoenix dactylifera is a common problem in date palm cultivation regions. Though plant vegetative characteristics and fruit nutritional values influence frugivory behavior in passerines, there is little knowledge about these parameters for sparrows feeding on dates, as most previous studies have focused on the impact of farm organization and location on the feeding choice made by sparrows. This study aimed to examine the effects of date palm tree traits and its fruit morphology and biochemical traits on the level of damage caused by hybrid sparrows to date fruits of three different date palm cultivars. In a traditional date palm plantation, three date varieties (Degla-Beida, Deglet-Nour and Ghars) were analyzed. The estimates of date production loss were correlated to several tree morphometrics and fruit morphological and biochemical traits, including the number of bunches/tree, bunch height, number of pedicels/bunch, number of dates per strand, total production/tree, and date fruit traits (length, width, weight, volume, pulp weight, ratio pulp weight/date weight, sugar content, water content and pH). We demonstrated that sparrows were attracted to bunches with low height and high fruit density, but they showed no interest to number of bunches per tree, number of pedicels per bunch, total number of dates and production per tree. Regarding date morphology, large and heavy dates were more likely to be selected by sparrows, although an unclear relationship was found between production loss per tree and date length, width and volume. In terms of fruit biochemical traits, sparrows damage rates increased with the increase in fruit pH, moisture, and total and reducing sugars. The average rate of lost dates per tree was 9.2 ± 7.66%, 8.4 ± 5.16%, and 3.9 ± 1.71% for Ghars, Deglet-Nour, and Degla-Beida, respectively. Significant differences were observed between cultivars in the amounts of damaged dates still on bunches or fallen on the ground. The hierarchical choice of dates by sparrows was also confirmed. Our results showed that soft dates were more preferred by sparrows than semi-soft and dry ones. The findings of this study indicated that it is necessary to provide extensive protection for highly attacked cultivars in palm groves.

Effect of Climatic Conditions, and Agronomic Practices Used in Organic and Conventional Crop Production on Yield and Nutritional Composition Parameters in Potato, Cabbage, Lettuce and Onion; Results from the Long-Term NFSC-Trials

Background: There is increasing evidence that the reliance on synthetic chemical pesticides and mineral fertilizers in agriculture has significant negative environmental and/or health impacts and poses a risk for future food security. Systematic reviews/meta-analyses showed that organic production systems, which omit the use of agrochemicals, produce crops with lower yields, but superior nutritional composition. However, the agronomic parameters responsible for differences in crop yields and nutritional quality are poorly understood. Methods: Here we report results for four field vegetable crops from the Nafferton Factorial Systems Comparison (NFSC) trial. This long-term factorial field experiment was designed to (i) identify effects of growing season/climatic variation, and contrasting rotational designs, crop protection protocols and fertilization regimes used in organic and conventional systems on crop health, yield and nutritional parameters and (ii) estimate the relative importance of climatic and agronomic drivers for crop health, yield and nutritionally relevant quality parameters. Quality parameters monitored in harvested products, included phenolic, glucosinolate, vitamin C, vitamin B9, carotenoid, cadmium (Cd), nickel (Ni), lead (Pb) and glycoalkaloid concentrations. Results: Climatic conditions during the growing season were found to have a larger impact on crop yield and quality than the agronomic factors (pre-crop, crop protection, fertilization) studied. However, the (i) interactions between growing season with contrasting climatic conditions and agronomic factors identified by ANOVA for crop health, yield and quality parameters and (ii) the associations between the three climatic drivers (precipitation, temperature, radiation) and crop yield and quality parameters differed substantially between the four crop plant species. Among the agronomic factors, fertilization had a substantially larger impact compared with both pre-crop and crop protection. Specifically, crop yields were found to be significantly increased by the use of (i) conventional fertilization and crop protection methods in potato, (ii) conventional fertilization, but organic crop protection methods in cabbage, and (iii) conventional fertilization regimes in lettuce, while none of the agronomic factors had a significant effect on onion yields. When important crop pest and diseases were assessed, (i) conventional crop protection resulted in significantly lower late blight severity in potato, while (ii) organic crop protection resulted in lower bird damage and cabbage root fly (CRF) incidence in cabbages, and Sclerotinia incidence in lettuce and (iii) organic fertilization resulted in lower CRF and Sclerotinia incidence in cabbage and lettuce respectively. When concentrations of nutritionally relevant phytochemicals were compared, organic fertilization resulted in significantly higher phenolic concentrations in potato, cabbage and lettuce, higher glucosinolate and carotenoid concentrations in cabbage, higher vitamin C concentrations in potato and cabbage and higher vitamin B9 concentrations in potato and lettuce—but lower concentrations of toxic glycoalkaloids in potato. Significant effects of crop protection protocols on phytochemical concentrations were only detected in cabbage with conventional crop protection resulting in higher glucosinolate and vitamin B9 concentrations. When toxic metal concentrations were compared, organic fertilization resulted in significantly lower Cd concentrations in all four crops and lower Ni concentrations in potato, cabbage and onion. Significant effects of crop protection were only detected in cabbage, where organic crop protection resulted in lower Ni concentrations. Pb concentrations were not affected by any of the agronomic factors. The potential implications of results for improving (i) strategies to reduce the use of non-renewable resources and environmental impacts of vegetable production and (ii) the productivity of organic and other low-input vegetable production systems without compromising food quality are discussed. Conclusions: The study confirms that organic vegetable production protocols result in higher concentrations of phenolics and other nutritionally desirable phytochemicals, but lower concentrations of the toxic metals Cd and Ni in harvested products. It also demonstrates, for the first time, that this is primarily due to differences in fertilization regimes. The finding that in three of the four crops (cabbage, lettuce and onion) the application of synthetic chemical crop protection products had no measurable positive impact on crop health and yield should be considered in the context of the growing concern about health impacts of pesticide use in field vegetable crops.