The Owners                  The Farm Experience

MANAGEMENT PRACTICES

 

Evolution of Integrated Pest Management

From the time that the human race shifted emphasis from a hunter/gatherer society to an agricultural society, land stewardship has been the key to survival. A healthy society depends on a healthy soil, which in turn depends on diversity that recycles wastes, maintains ecological balance and replenishes fertility. Throughout history, societies have risen and fallen bases on their relationship with the soil. These relationships are especially noticeable in fragile ecosystems where rainfall, temperature and organic matter limit ecological resilience, but there is no ecosystem on earth that cannot be depleted and eventually destroyed.

Fast forward to the 1940’s and 1950’s. The industrial revolution was going to completely revolutionalize agriculture. Of course, tractors and farm machinery had already replaced the need for much hand labor, but now we could even ignore the natural ecological processes by substituting chemically produced pesticides and fertilizers. Fueled by corporate interests and the concern for feeding an increasing world population, society rushed into the unknown world of chemical agriculture with little understanding of the potential consequences.

In less than a decade the ecological damage from the indiscriminate use of this new technology was becoming alarmingly apparent. Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring, helped galvanize a counter-movement. Organic gardening was the reactive response to the concern that these new compounds might be reducing the long-term productivity of our soils. To avoid evolving and still unknown risks, the organic movement prohibited all man-made compounds and allowed only natural fertilizers and pesticides to be used (over time this distinction has been somewhat blurred, but is still the philosophical basis for approving new substances for use in organic farming systems.)

Fast-forward again to the 1990’s. Thirty years of research became the basis for an alternative management system that is ecologically based, but recognizes technology can be a part of an intensive management system. This system is called Integrated Pest Management (IPM). IPM is based on the organic farming principle of maintaining soil fertility for future generations, and recognizes that well researched technological tools can be incorporated to enhance sustainability.

Summary of Management Tools

Our management philosophy is to work with and enhance natural ecological systems. Intervention is used as last resort and only to the extent that it is predictable and necessary.

Cultural tools and management practices include:
 crop rotation
 wind breaks
 plant density
 row orientation to maximize sunlight, air and water drainage,
 green manure crops
 cover crops
 removal of diseased foliage and plants
 mechanical cultivation
 hand weeding
 planting resistant varieties
 preserving natural predators
 monitoring weather conditions favorable for disease,
 field scouting to identify pest problems
 using pest damage threshold levels to see if pesticide intervention is needed to prevent crop failure or to maintain quality

If pesticides are incorporated into the system, they are selected on the basis of least
Toxicity and timed or applied in a manner that eliminates or minimizes contact with fruit.

 

For more information about our detailed IPM practices click on:   IPM Tool Chest

 

The Owners     The Farm Experience