Many integrated pest management practices are
so widely adopted in Western agriculture they have become conventional pest
management.
That is one of the key findings of a new
report by the Western Integrated Pest Management Center titled “Adoption and Impacts of
Integrated Pest Management in Agriculture in the Western United
States.”
Other key findings:
·
Pesticide use is declining
overall, and in California, has declined sharply per dollar of food produced.
·
In California, use of many
of the most toxic classes of pesticides has declined, although use of
carcinogenic pesticides and toxic air contaminants has increased.
·
Pesticide residues found on
food are at very low concentrations, below the legal tolerance limits set by
the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
“This is the first in a series of special
reports on IPM adoption and the impacts of IPM adoption in different settings
in the West,” said Western IPM Center Director Jim Farrar, lead author of the
report. “Future reports will be more specific in their focus, looking in-depth
at specific crops, counties and non-agricultural settings.”
But this first report was
broad, pulling data from a variety of sources to generate an overall picture of
IPM adoption.
“The background of this is
in 1993, the United States Department of
Agriculture and EPA set a goal that integrated pest management would be
practiced on 75 percent of U.S. crop acreage by the year 2000,” Farrar said.
“While some level of IPM was being used on about 70 percent of acreage by the
deadline, there wasn’t a lot known about the impact IPM adoption was having. And
that’s really important.”
So Farrar examined peer-reviewed scientific literature and studies
conducted by or on behalf of commodity groups or other agriculture interests,
published since the year 2000.
“From the data, IPM has been widely adopted
in Western agriculture, especially in specialty crops,” Farrar said. “One of
the most interesting findings is how much less pesticide it takes to produce a
dollar’s worth of food.”
Using California pesticide-use and
agriculture-production data, the report shows that pesticide use per dollar of
food produced has dropped by more than half since 1995. Then it took more than
eight pounds of pesticide to produce $1,000 worth of food in California, and in
2012 that figure dropped below four pounds.
“The review shows there are gaps in the data that’s available, and places where IPM adoption can be improved,” Farrar said.
“But overall, it shows that IPM is beneficial in managing pests, and in
protecting the economy, human health and the environment.”
The Western IPM Center is
one of four regional centers funded by the USDA National Institute of Food and
Agriculture to promote IPM practices and serve as the hub of a multi-state
partnership and communication network. From offices in Davis, California, the
Center serves 13 Western states and the Pacific Island territories.
Download the
66-page report or a four-page abstract for free at WesternIPM.org
