Integrated Pest Management

Integrated pest management, or IPM, is an ecologically based, multipronged approach to managing damage from crop pests below a level that will cause economic loss if no remedial action is taken. The term pest refers to any organism that is detrimental to humans. However, the majority of IPM programs in agriculture have been designed around the control of arthropods, weeds, and plant pathogens. The foundation of decision making in IPM is an understanding of the biology of the pest organism and the ecology of the cropping system. Ideally, IPM relies on cultural, biological, and mechanical practices to prevent competitive species from becoming pests. When crop monitoring indicates that pest populations exceed the economic threshold, a mechanical, chemical, or biological method can be employed to reduce the pest population. By using pest management practices that are effective, economically sound, and ecologically harmonious, IPM is a fundamental component of sustainable agriculture. IPM was developed as an alternative approach to pesticide-centered management programs that were the predominant model for pest management post-World War II, when synthetic pesticides became widely available. Chemical pesticides have been central to industrial agriculture production because they are easy and relatively inexpensive to produce and use, can be persistent, and are effective against a broad array of insects. Undoubtedly, chemical pesticides have been important in reducing economic damage from insect pests and the diseases they can carry. [Page 254]However, the dependence on chemical pesticides as the principal defense against pest damage has led to many deleterious agricultural, social, and ecological effects including pesticide resistance, pest resurgence, mortality of natural biological control organisms leading to secondary pest outbreaks, health hazards for people in contact with the pesticides (e.g., applicators, farm workers, and consumers), and the contamination of soil, water, and air, which can threaten biodiversity. Rachel Carson's highly influential book, Silent Spring, published in 1962, brought international attention to the ecological dangers of widespread pesticide use. In 1972, the term integrated pest management was formalized in a letter to Congress by President Richard Nixon requesting further development of IPM concepts and application.

Integrated pest management requires in-depth knowledge of pest organisms such as this western corn rootworm, photographed in its adult stage while it sought pollen in strands of corn silk.

Source: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service/Tom Hlavaty

There are six essential components to an IPM program: (1) the people who make decisions about production and manage the crops in the field, (2) the knowledge about a crop production system and a pest that informs management decisions, (3) the cultural practices that give crops the competitive advantage over pests, (4) a system of monitoring the crop for the presence of pests and beneficial organisms and for crop damage by the pest, (5) an economic threshold to aid decisions about treatments, and (6) reduced risk control options including biological control, mechanical control, and pesticides of low toxicity.