Image source: https://insectary.com/ipm/
Farmers have leveraged chemical herbicides and pesticides for years. Although yields benefit from these tools, the planet suffers. Modern agriculture professionals want ways to protect their produce from pests and disease while being more considerate of the Earth. Integrated pest management (IPM) is on the rise for this reason, and it could be the key to greater ecological balance in farming.
Integrated pest management (IPM) is a methodology that comprises techniques and technologies for tackling pests. Its goal is to preserve crops and the health of agricultural workers. Conventional practices, like using pesticides, often contain chemicals and produce harmful side effects on the environment.
IPM strives to overcome these associations by taking a more sustainable, common-sense approach. Agriculturalists adopting IPM want to use economical means to restore land with nutrients and, potentially, use more organic practices. Sustainable pest management relies on these guiding principles:
Control strategies vary based on the pest type. However, they typically fall into several categories, including biological, mechanical and chemical techniques. Some examples include natural predators, nets or targeted pesticide use.
IPM streamlines crop surveillance and enhances it by integrating technology on the farm. Here is what agriculture experts should consider for each principle of sustainable pest management.
Automation is critical for monitoring, otherwise farmers will spend most of their time manually observing crop health. Remote sensing and drone technologies are powerful assets because they can use cameras and sensors to detect health changes.
Geographic information systems (GIS) are also useful for multiple aspects of IPM. They can observe, prevent and control by providing deeper spatial analytics than human eyes can. These technologies can also map perimeters and notice pest outbreaks. These insights verify the most at-risk areas to align the workers’ priorities.
IPM adopters may also use decision support systems (DSSs). Modern options can measure over 50 plant characteristics to oversee farms without compromising quality and output. The DSS synthesizes information about the crops, like growth cycles and pest biology, to give growers recommendations on how to react, given their current status.
Pest monitoring tools range in their complexity. Conventional methods, like traps and pheromone lures, are useful in sustainable pest management. They may also incorporate materials to be a barrier against danger like kaolin clay or neem.
Teams can also install smart technologies, like the Internet of Things, to detect movements or the progression of encroaching threats. It could also help monitor environmental metrics, like humidity and temperature, which could foster breeding grounds for specific pest types.
Precision agriculture is another farming method, but its assets provide valuable knowledge about the land’s performance and behaviors. It may be comprised of soil sensors that notice plant stressors because of deficiencies or smart dispensing technologies. These include sprinkler-like systems, which can carefully spread fertilizers or other sprays as preventive measures. These are also helpful for monitoring.
There are several types of control measures. The technologies required for biological controls include inoculants so farmers can inject specific areas with microorganisms. They can also encompass insect breeding systems, where agriculturalists facilitate controlled insect growth to release on pest-affected areas.
Mechanical solutions may also overlap with precision agriculture, including variable rate technologies for suppressing pests and collecting data.
All IPM best practices follow these principles. Decisions about pest management that go outside of these recommendations may lead to unethical or unsustainable activities. This could negatively affect plants, especially if they have adapted to the presence of preventive species or increased biodiversity.
For example, planting a preventive species to withstand a specific pest is ideal, but not if it could lead to an invasion or exploitation of the soil. If the plant variety is not native, then it could cause more harm by sapping nutrients or inviting new pest types.
Farmers set themselves up for success by having well-informed action thresholds. The best way to establish these is to be thorough. They should consider the severity of each threat based on pest species. The thresholds should also be organized by crop value and economic losses based on risk types. However, none of this matters if the workforce does not view them strictly. Any point of excess is cause for concern, so complacency must be discouraged through thorough training and education.
Scheduling scouting trips and reviewing monitoring measures is critical. Though technologies may automate tasks, farmers must manually intervene regularly to ensure operational efficiency and accurate data collection. It is essential to note the diversity of tools during these reviews. A mixture of technological and manual methods will provide more safety if devices fail.
Farms that stick to their pest management values and metrics will produce more than intensified yields. These lands will have a more profound and positive impact on the planet. IPM is so effective that California has issued roadmaps for incorporating it across its agriculture.
IPM minimizes pollutant spread and embraces regenerative mentalities. This fosters natural habitats to flourish again, bringing back critical biodiversity to support its climate resilience and strength to support animals, farmers and crops.
Traditional pest control techniques are sapping the planet of more of its resources than it can handle. IPM is more sustainable because it gives the soil and nearby creatures time to recover and reacclimate to help farmers grow their crops with the climate in mind. If all farms adopted sustainable pest management practices, yields could increase, the industry’s carbon footprint would go down, and food scarcity may lower to promote environmental equity.
Emily Newton is a science and agriculture writer. She is also the Editor-in-Chief of Revolutionized, an online magazine exploring science and industry. When she isn’t writing, Emily enjoys going for walks or camping under the stars.