What is Integrated Pest Management?

Integrated Pest Management (IPM) combines the use of biological, cultural, and chemical methods to control insect pests in agricultural production.

It attempts to use natural enemies or parasites to control pests, using selective pesticides as a backup only when pests cannot be controlled by natural means. 

IPM should not be confused with organic practices. Don’t discourage chemical spraying. It encourages selective spraying of pesticides only when the crop needs it, which generally means less pesticide use.

IPM uses all appropriate pest control options, including but not limited to the judicious use of pesticides.

In contrast, organic food production applies many of the same concepts as IPM but limits the use of pesticides to those made from natural sources, as opposed to synthetic chemicals.

How Do Ipm Programs Work? 

IPM is not a single pest management method, but rather a series of pest management assessments, decisions, and controls. When practicing IPM, growers aware of the potential for pest infestation follow four-tiered approaches. The four steps include: 

Set Action Thresholds

Before taking pest control action, IPM first establishes an action threshold, a point at which pest populations or environmental conditions indicate that pest control action should be taken. 

Seeing a single pest doesn’t always mean control is needed. which pests become an economic threat is critical to future pest management decisions.

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Pest Monitoring And Identification 

Not all insects, weeds, and other living organisms need to be controlled. Many organisms are harmless and some are even beneficial. 

IPM programs monitor and accurately identify pests so that appropriate control decisions can be made. along with action thresholds. This control and identification eliminate the possibility that pesticides are used when they are not needed or that the wrong type of pesticide is used.

Prevention

As the first line of pest control, IPM programs work to manage your crop, lawn, or indoor space to prevent pests from becoming a threat. 

In an agricultural crop, this may involve the use of cropping methods such as B. Rotating between different cultures, selecting pest-resistant varieties, and planting pest-free rootstocks. 

These control methods can be very effective, and inexpensive, and pose little or no risk to humans or the environment.

Control

Once monitoring, identification, and action thresholds indicate the need for pest control and preventive methods are no longer effective or available, IPM programs evaluate the appropriate control method for both effectiveness and risk. 

Effective and less risky pesticides are chosen. First, including highly specific chemicals, such as pheromones to disrupt pest mating, or mechanical control, such as the targeted spraying of pesticides.

Mass spraying of non-specific pesticides is the last resort.

Why IPM Programs Are Effective 

The most effective and long-term way to control pests is a combination of methods that work better together than individually.

With IPM, you take action to prevent malware from becoming a problem, e.g. by growing a healthy crop that can resist pest infestations, using disease-resistant plants, or caulking cracks to prevent insects or rodents from entering a building. 

Rather than just removing the pests you see, using IPM means you examine the environmental factors affecting the pest and its ability to thrive. Armed with this information, you can create unfavorable conditions for the pest. 

With IPM, monitoring and correct pest identification will help you decide if treatment is needed. Monitoring means checking your field, landscape, forest, building, or other location to determine what pests are present, how many there are, or what damage they have caused.

Proper identification of the pest is key to knowing if a pest is likely to become a problem and determining the best management strategy. After monitoring and considering information about the pest, its biology, and environmental factors, you can decide if the pest can be tolerated or if it is a problem that requires control. 

If control is required, this information will also help you choose the most effective management methods and when to apply them.

IPM Programs Focus on Acceptable pest levels 

The focus is on control, not eradication. IPM claims that eradicating an entire pest population is often impossible and can be costly and unsafe to attempt. IPM programs first work to set acceptable levels of pests, called action thresholds, and apply controls when those thresholds are exceeded. 

These thresholds are pest and site-specific, meaning that it may be acceptable to have a weed-like clover in one site but not in another. Allowing a pest population to survive at a reasonable threshold reduces selection pressure. 

This slows the rate at which a pest develops resistance to control because if almost all pests are killed, those with resistance will form the genetic base of the future. the population. 

Maintaining a significant number of non-resistant samples dilutes the prevalence of any emerging resistance genes. Similarly, repeated use of a single class of controls results in pest populations that are more resistant to this class, while switching between classes prevents this.

Synthetic pesticides are applied as needed and often only at specific points in a pest’s life cycle. Many newer pesticides are derived from plants or natural substances (eg, nicotine, pyrethrum, and insect juvenile hormone analogs), but the toxophore or active ingredient can be modified to provide greater biological activity or stability. 

Pesticide applications must achieve the intended goals. Matching the application technique to crop, pest and pesticide is critical. 

Using low-volume sprayers reduces overall pesticide use and labor costs. An IPM regimen can be simple or sophisticated. In the past, the main focus of IPM programs has been agricultural insect pests.

Although originally developed for agricultural pest control, IPM programs are now being developed to capture diseases, weeds, and other pests that affect management objectives for sites such as residential and commercial buildings, lawns and lawns, and gardens.

Predictive models have proven to be adequate tools to support the implementation of IPM programs.

Pest Control Approaches In IPM

Pest control approaches are often grouped into the following categories. 

Chemical Control

Chemical control is the use of pesticides. Integrated pest management uses pesticides only when needed and in combination with other approaches for more effective long-term control. 

Pesticides are selected and applied in a way that minimizes their potential harm to humans, non-target organisms, and the environment.

With IPM, you’re using the most selective pesticide that gets the job done and is the safest for other organisms and air, soil, and water quality; use pesticides at bait stations instead of sprayers.

Biological Control 

Biological control is the use of natural enemies (predators, parasites, pathogens, and competitors) to combat pests and their damage.

Invertebrates, plant pathogens, nematodes, weeds, and vertebrates have many natural enemies. 

Cultural Controls 

Cultural controls are practices that reduce the establishment, reproduction, spread, and survival of pests. For example, changing irrigation practices can reduce pest problems, as too much water can increase root diseases and weeds.

Mechanical And Physical Controls

Mechanical and physical controls eliminate a pest directly, blocking it or making the environment unsuitable for it. Rodent traps are examples of mechanical control. Physical controls include mulch to control weeds, soil vapor sterilization to control disease or barriers such as trellis to keep birds or insects out. 

Do Most Growers Use IPM? 

With these steps, IPM can best be described as an ongoing process. Many, if not most,  growers identify their pests before spraying. these manufacturers are in the IPM continuum.

The goal is to advance growers in applying all appropriate IPM techniques. In most cases, food grown using Integrated Pest Management methods is not identified as organic food on the market. 

There is no national certification for growers using IPM, like the one developed by the US Department of Agriculture for organic food. Because IPM is a complex pest control process and not just a set of practices, it is impossible to use one 

IPM definition for all foods and all areas of the country. Many individual producers of raw materials for crops such as potatoes and strawberries are working to define what IPM means for their crop and region, and IPM-labeled foods are available in limited areas. 

With definitions, growers could start marketing more of their products as IPM-Grown, giving consumers another option when shopping for groceries.

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