Articles
TAKING THE SOFT APPROACH TO PEST AND DISEASE MANAGEMENT – DOES IT WORK?©
Article number
1014_14
Pages
75 – 77
Language
English
Abstract
There is a growing problem in horticulture inability to control some pests and diseases.
Mites, thrips, and white fly are now resistant to a wide range of chemicals.
Even some easy-to-control insects like aphids are now developing resistance to previously effective chemicals.
New chemistry is now more difficult and slower to discover and develop with costs blowing out to millions of dollars for each molecule.
In addition our range of chemicals is actually decreasing in many cases due to increasing number of old style chemicals being banned.
And finally, consumers and farm workers are increasingly demanding chemical-free plants and working conditions.
We are in an in-between phase where we still rely on chemicals but increasingly we need to employ other more natural methods to assist in good pest control.
What does the future hold? Currently chemicals are still essential to our mass-production systems and chemical companies are increasingly developing more environmentally friendly selective chemicals.
Such chemicals enable the successful management of biological beneficials with the safety net of chemical intervention when needed.
More and more natural methods are being discovered which due to new mass rearing techniques can be very effective against pests and disease.
The key is in learning how to best manage each new tool.
A time may come in the future when chemicals will be replaced by a wide range of natural methods but at present the two systems need to work together.
This is indeed integrated pest management (IPM).
Mites, thrips, and white fly are now resistant to a wide range of chemicals.
Even some easy-to-control insects like aphids are now developing resistance to previously effective chemicals.
New chemistry is now more difficult and slower to discover and develop with costs blowing out to millions of dollars for each molecule.
In addition our range of chemicals is actually decreasing in many cases due to increasing number of old style chemicals being banned.
And finally, consumers and farm workers are increasingly demanding chemical-free plants and working conditions.
We are in an in-between phase where we still rely on chemicals but increasingly we need to employ other more natural methods to assist in good pest control.
What does the future hold? Currently chemicals are still essential to our mass-production systems and chemical companies are increasingly developing more environmentally friendly selective chemicals.
Such chemicals enable the successful management of biological beneficials with the safety net of chemical intervention when needed.
More and more natural methods are being discovered which due to new mass rearing techniques can be very effective against pests and disease.
The key is in learning how to best manage each new tool.
A time may come in the future when chemicals will be replaced by a wide range of natural methods but at present the two systems need to work together.
This is indeed integrated pest management (IPM).
Authors
M. Durham
Keywords
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