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Here "prevention" is the word. And the best way to prevent disease is to stay healthy.

Healthy soil is rich in microorganisms that, similarly to the white cells in our immune system, keep harmful disease causing bacteria and fungi in check. When we apply chemical fungicides to prevent disease we are killing these good organisms along with the bad, so the plants get sicker, and we have to apply more chemicals. Healthy vigorous plants may be attacked, but with minimal effects.

Crop rotation discourages the build up of diseases. Sometimes organic growers will not grow the same crop in the same spot for 20 years!

Another recommended procedure is timimg plantings so that crops come on after the worst period of disease in a certain area and the harvest is finished before the disease comes back again.

There are times of the year when it is better not to grow a certain vegetable at all, as it gets just too difficult to keep them free of disease. For example, we don’t have much broccoli or cauliflower in the summer months because the growers can only get a 20% yield in that period. That means that for every 100 plants that they have sown, they can only harvest 20 and leave the other 80 to "compost" in the field: Too much heat, not enough water. We would get sick too!