Intergrated Pest Management: A New Dog with a Few Old Tricks

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And when action is required, it can be directed only at the problem pest ... which means that you won't also needlessly destroy the beneficial organisms that naturally help control the destroyers to begin with.

In fact, IPM programs make a positive virtue of turning one (beneficial) critter against another (harmful pest). And their armies of "good guys" include ferocious parasites and predators drawn from the ranks of bacteria, viruses, fungi, insects, and other organisms.

For instance, Bacillus thuringiensis-a bacterium that infects the larvae of numerous moths and butterflies-has been widely used (in both IPM programs and backyard gardens) to control such pests as cabbage loopers, tent caterpillars, spruce budworms, and tussock moths. It's as natural as the day is long and Is available from most nurseries under such trade names as Biotrol, Dipel, and Thuricide.

In short, then, IPM projects have shown beyond doubt that you don't have to [1] use highly toxic chemicals or [2] attempt to eradicate pests entirely in order to realize high yields and healthy profits from the crops you raise. Most of the time, it's enough merely to hold pests down to manageable numbers. Such restraint means that you don't need to use nearly as much pesticide as before. . . and that's money in your pocket!

Wholistic gardeners, of course, have known this all along, but It's still nice to see commercial farmers and "establishment" scientists catching on at last.

SPECTACULAR RESULTS

The first large-scale test of integrated pest management began in 1972, when Carl Huffaker-an entomologist at the University of California at Berkeley-set up a series of pilot programs across the country. Huffaker enlisted the aid of numerous like-minded colleagues to serve as consultants to participating farmers in their areas. Funds to support the program were provided by the National Science Foundation, the Environmental Protection Agency, and-to a smaller degree-the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

The results of these tests-with peanuts, cotton, alfalfa, tobacco, sorghum, soybeans, apples, pears, and several other crops-were downright spectacular! If anything, IPM exceeded the fondest expectations of its supporters.

Vulture are beginning to concede that you just may have been right all along! Well . . . if not exactly right, at least not totally wrong.

In southern Texas, for example, farmers were able to control boll weevils simply by switching from a long-season variety of cotton to a rapidly maturing type . . . which blooms before the hungry insects even arrive in the fields! As a result, growers now use 75°/. less pesticide, 80°/. less fertilizer, and half as much water as they did 10 years ago. Profits have Increased more than $100 per acre!

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