It's been a long time since we relied upon routine spraying to prevent pests eating our crops. Now is the era of Integrated Pest M...
People and livestock are not the only ones interested in eating the crops farmers grow. We compete with insects, birds and other organisms that find our food as delectable as we do. But thanks to modern agricultural science and implementation of complex management strategies by farmers, crop failure due to pestilence has all but disappeared.
This branch of agricultural science is known as Integrated Pest Management, or IPM, and is defined as "socially acceptable, environmentally responsible and economically practical crop protection."
The wizards who help farmers develop and implement IPM strategies pull their knowledge from diverse fields, including soil science, entomology (insect science), plant disease, genetics and weed science. Using their knowledge of the life cycles of crops, pests and disease organisms, these crop-production experts help farmers protect their crops in ways that have a low environmental impact and a high economic benefit.
IPM practices employ several pest control methods to minimise the use of pesticides and decrease the chance of the developing of resistance in weeds and insects.
IPM strategies include crop rotation to interrupt weed, disease and insect cycles, pest monitoring, and the use of biological and chemical controls at opportune times. Long gone are the days when farmers sprayed their fields on a regular basis, whether they needed it or not.
Today, you are likely to spot a university, extension or private agronomist or scout bent over in a field counting the number of insect eggs or larvae per square foot. They take this information and input it into their laptop-computer models along with weather projections and information on the stage of crop development. If an infestation is predicted to cause more damage than the cost of controlling it, they will make recommendations on when the crop should be sprayed, what type of material would be most effective and what rate would be most economical.
IPM methods integrate the use of biological controls, too. Pest control recommendations often consider the impact on beneficial insect species as well as the harmful ones. On dairy farms, parasitic wasps are used to control populations of house flies and stable flies. Mating disruption techniques for some pests include the use of synthetic pheromones (the chemical signals that help male insects locate female insects).
Genetic engineering has allowed farmers to plant crops that are resistant to specific insects and disease, doing away with the need to use synthetic chemicals altogether. In this age of the biologist, many more discoveries will promote IPM's mission of "socially acceptable, environmentally responsible and economically practical crop protection."