Professional Documents
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A strategy to reduce pest population in agriculture A holistic approach to pest management involving biological control, cultivation techniques, and minimal use of synthetic pesticides to reduce pest populations to an economically tolerable level Philosophy of IPM Pest and crop are considered as part of an ecological system The goal is to reduce the pest population to an economically acceptable level, not completely eradicate the pest population IPM Strategies Crop rotation to disrupt pest populations Creation of habitat for predators of pest population Using pest resistant crop varieties Intercropping makes the spread of pest more difficult Altering planting times to disrupt pest life cycles Using physical pest control methods such as vacuums to remove pest, or spraying hot water on the plants to destroy larvae Narrow-spectrum pesticides but this is only used when the potential crop loss is greater than the cost of spraying the pesticides Advantages of IPM Reduction of environmental and health problems associated with synthetic pesticide use Requires a great deal of education for farmers and landowners Can be costly and not as immediately effective as synthetic pesticides Pest population is usually not completely irradiated Disadvantages of IPM Requires a great deal of education for farmers and landowners It can cost a great deal, initial cost of IPM programs may be higher than conventional pesticide spraying Not as immediately effective as synthetic pesticides/pest population not completely irradiated Varies from farm to farm