Integrated Pest Management

Integrated pest management (IPM) is an approach to pest management that relies on a combination of simple and economical practices that can be applied in any agricultural or nonagricultural setting where pest management is necessary. The starting point of any IPM approach is a current and systematic understanding of the pest and its interactions with the environment, and an assumption that full eradication is impossible or unnecessary. Based on this, appropriate monitoring, action thresholds, and evaluation methods are established to control pests. In contrast to organic production methods that share many of the same practices as IPM but prohibit the use of chemical pesticides, IPM can combine limited use of pesticides with other available pest control methods that are most appropriate to the specific environment ...