PlantwisePlus Blog

This article was originally published on the CABI BioProtection Portal blog. Visit the original blog post here.

Integrated pest management (IPM) is an environmentally friendly approach to managing crops. “IPM is the careful consideration of all available pest control techniques”, the FAO describes on its website. 

Integrated pest management includes implementing various biological, chemical, physical and crop specific (cultural) techniques. This encourages healthy crops and minimizes the use of pesticides. Reducing the use of pesticides reduces health risks to people and the environment. In this way, integrated pest management is a sustainable form of pest management. 

Integrated pest management, as a sustainable form of agriculture, aims to: 

– Manage pest damage in the most economical way 

– Limit impact to people, property and the environment 

– Avoid negative implications for the farmer  

– Improve biodiversity and conservation 

– Protect the human right to food 

How does IPM work? 

Integrated pest management programmes include a number of steps. These are pest management evaluations, decisions and controls.

Growers usually employ a five-step approach while conducting integrated pest management.

The five steps include:  

1. Pest identification
2. Setting an action threshold
3. Monitoring
4. Prevention
5. Control

1. Pest identification

Correctly identifying the pest is key to taking further decisions and for using targeted measures. This step is essential to assess if the pest is likely to become a problem and to select the appropriate management strategies.

Misidentification or lack of information on the pest generally leads to the selection of unsuitable measures, which in turn leads to pest control failure. When identifying the weed, insect, or plant disease it is ideal to have a sample of the pest. This ensures it is identified correctly. You can even ask for the expertise of extension workers.

Sometimes the pest is not visible and you have to look for symptoms instead.

One resource that can assist with pest identification is the Plantwise Diagnostic Field Guide. This tool helps diagnose crop problems and makes recommendations for their management.

Identifying the pest also means learning more about the pest’s life cycle and biology. This will help with choosing the most suitable control strategy.

You can use CABI’s Invasive Species Compendium to search for information about pests.

2. Setting an action threshold

Setting an action threshold is one of the most important aspects of IPM.

An action threshold is the point at which measures should be taken to control the pest. It is the guideline that indicates when pests reach a level (i.e. the number of pests per unit area) that justifies taking action to avoid or diminish pest damage.

To set action thresholds for your IPM strategy, it is helpful to ask:

• Is there an economic threat and what is the cost of taking action?

Unless the pest threshold is exceeded, the grower will not need to take any action. The cost of control should be less than or equal to the estimated losses caused by the pests, if left.

• What are the risks to health and safety?

When a pest poses a threat to human health or safety, the grower should reduce the action threshold. For example, if the grower found grain and flour pests in food for human consumption.

• Is there the potential for visual damage?

Damage in the appearance of any product can cause concern. Damaged products are difficult to sell.

Establishing action thresholds should be based on regular crop monitoring, which takes us to the third step of IPM

3. Monitoring

Keeping good records of pest populations is important for deciding when it is time to act. This prevents the using of control methods when they are not needed. Monitoring and management should be adapted to your situation.

Thresholds are meant to be flexible. For example, they can be set based on:

• The average number of pests caught per trap each week
• The percentage of damaged or infested leaves or plants discovered during examination
• The number of pests dislodged for every beat or shake sample

Follow CABI Academy’s course on bioprotection to learn how to monitor pests with bioprotectants.

4. Prevention

Prevention is a key step in integrated pest management. This is the best line of defense against pests. It focuses on how to prevent pest populations from building up to economically damaging levels.

IPM aims to prevent pest problems. This method of pest management is often cheaper and has better results in the long term. Even if prevention does not eliminate pests, it should lower their numbers. This makes them easier to control.

Among others, preventive actions include:

• Carefully selected crop location
• Appropriate variety selection
• Strategic planting and crop rotation
• Use of preventative biopesticides
• Mechanical, physical, and cultural crop protection methods
• Water management
• Optimization of plant nutrition
• Protecting natural habitats near farmland

These actions can be very effective and present few risks to the environment and people.

5. Control

Pest control is required when the action thresholds are exceeded and when preventive actions cannot help anymore.

Using a combination of various methods brings the best results in terms of duration and efficacy of pest control.

Methods that can be used in IPM include:

• Pest trapping (with pheromones for example)
• Heat/cold treatment
• Physical removal
• Biological control
• Pesticide application

It is important to assess the effects of pest control actions, to evaluate the success of the strategies implemented.

This can be done by keeping:

• An updated record of each pest control method used, including all pesticide applications
• Evidence of what non-chemical control methods were considered and implemented
• The lessons learnt for preventing future pest problems

Why use IPM?

IPM is a comprehensive approach to pest control that prioritizes the health of both the environment and human health. Unlike traditional pest control practices that rely heavily on chemical pesticides, an IPM program combines multiple strategies to manage pest populations in a more sustainable, effective, and eco-friendly manner. 

Integrated Pest Management benefits

IPM programmes provide multiple benefits both for humans and the environment. Public Health Notes discusses some of these benefits, as does Crop Life. Some benefits include: 

• Lessening negative impacts on biodiversity, as well as soil and water resources: using different control methods in an appropriate way can prevent beneficial insects being killed by the inappropriate use of chemical pesticides, for example. 
• Lowering health risks for farm laborers: less reliance on pesticides means less exposure and less health issues. 
• Reducing the risk of insect resistance or recurrence: reliance on one sole control tactic increases the probability of pests getting used to them and becoming resistant. IPM and the rotation of control methods is beneficial as it counteracts this problem. 

Additionally, growers also perceive benefits from using IPM. With a prevention program, growers can prevent the build-up of pests, therefore saving money and time. IPM can help growers: 

• Increase crop profits from improved pest control
• Maintain market access
• Reduce the risk of restrictions for their produce due to pesticide residues 
• Increasing public confidence due to following safer procedures 

Cultural control in Integrated Pest Management

Cultural practices can be incorporated in the ‘Prevention’ step. These activities aim at allowing the crop to avoid, resist, or delay its interaction with the pest. In other terms, cultural practices will prevent the pest from developing. These include:  

• Crop rotation: it can interrupt the pest’s life cycle by replacing the host plant with a non-host plant.
• Strategic planting: some pests might be problematic at certain times of the year, or at specific weather conditions. To avoid critical periods, you can adapt the time of planting.
• Rogueing: this is the act of removing sick and dying plants. This helps prevent the build-up of a reservoir of pests
• Resistant varieties: some plant varieties are better armed to against specific pests 
• Trap crops: some plants are more attractive to pests than others and can therefore attract them away from the desired crop.  

Mechanical / Physical control in Integrated Pest Management

Mechanical or physical agricultural practices focus on physically removing the pest or disrupting its activities. These practices are usually the first to be used to control pests once the threshold has been reached.

Mechanical or practical practices are usually rapid and effective and have little to no impact on non-target organisms.

These practices include:

• Hand picking: manually removing pests from plants.
• Barriers and traps: mesh screens or nets for instance keep pests away from the plants, while yellow sticky cards can trap them.
• Mulching: covering the soil with mulch has many benefits, including promoting indirect pest control by supporting natural enemies of pests
• Water pressure sprays: high pressure spraying on sturdy crops can sometimes dislodge insects from plant leaves and stems

Biological control in Integrated Pest Management

Biological control (or ‘bioprotection’) is the use of living organisms and naturally sourced compounds to control pest populations. You can purchase and apply bioprotection products directly to your crops.  

There are several types of bioprotection products:  

• Macrobials
• Microbials
• Semiochemicals
• Natural substances 

For guidance on selecting the right product(s) for effective pest management strategies, consult our ‘7 tips to pick a biopesticide or biocontrol product’ blog.  
For personalized advice on applying a bioprotection product, contact your nearest extension office or local agricultural advisor service. 

Chemical control in Integrated Pest Management

You can use chemical pesticides within an IPM program, but they should be used as a last resort, when all other options are not able to reduce or limit the pest damage.  

In IPM, the use of chemicals should minimize the environmental impact. This can be done by:   

• Selective chemical: select chemicals that have a narrow host range to reduce the non-target effects
• Spot treatment: only treat the areas affected by the pest
• Rotate classes of pesticides: to avoid building resistance in the pest, use products that have different modes of actions

FAQs

What is the IPM method?

IPM (Integrated Pest Management) is a sustainable and environmentally friendly form of crop management which considers all pest control techniques. It involves implementing various prevention, detection and control techniques to reduce pests. Sometimes represented as an IPM pyramid, there are several steps commonly used. These are: 
Pest identification – involves accurately pinpointing the issue.

• Pest identification – involves accurately pinpointing the issue.
• Pest monitoring (or scouting) – is looking for and tracking signs and the level of damage of the pest or disease. 
• Cultural/physical/mechanical control – tactics to block, divert or disrupt pests to reduce numbers. 
• Biological control – utilizes naturally sourced compounds to tackle a pest or disease, causing little to no damage elsewhere.
• Chemical control – should only be used as a last resort when all other options have been considered. 

What is biological control in IPM?

Biological control in IPM is the use of natural organisms and products made from compounds that originate from nature, to tackle crop pests or diseases in a sustainable way. The goal of using biological control in IPM is to reduce the target pest to below damaging levels and not completely eradicate them. Unlike chemical pesticides, they have little to no unwanted side effects on humans, the environment, or wildlife. 
Most biological control products in IPM can be used with conventional equipment, such as sprayers. There are different types of products that can be used, in control and prevention stage, categorized as: 

Microbials – contain microscopic living organisms or their by-products. 
Macrobials – are small animals such as beneficial insects. 
Semiochemical – are natural chemical compounds that change or disrupt normal pest behaviour. 
Natural substances – have compounds originating from nature, such as botanical oils and plant extracts.