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Integrated Pest Management & Product Selection
IPM Fundamentals

Agriculture

IPM Fundamentals

IPM is a dynamic and flexible system that leverages all available means and technologies to effectively prevent and combat crop pest and diseases. IPM principles allow the management of plant insects, weeds and diseases effectively while ensuring low environmental impact.

Key principles

Prevent the build-up of pests:

  • Understand the conditions of your field
  • Select the appropriate crop variety
  • Strategic planting & crop rotation
  • Optimizing crop nutrition
  • Water & soil management

Monitor crops for pest emergence:

  • Inspect your field regularly
  • Identify specific biotic or abiotic agents affecting your crop
  • Determine the right action to intervene

Proper intervention:

  • Apply cultural and physical methods
  • Implement biological control where possible
  • Use chemical control when necessary
Gallery of links and materials by Pesticide Environmental Stewardship
  1. Open Webpage

Biological crop protection products and their stewardship

Chemical control as the last means for effective pest control

Where pest and disease issues persist and cultural, physico-mechanical, and biological measures do not suffice for their control, chemical means may be selected as the last resort. Curative measures can be opted for if necessary, once certain damage thresholds have been passed. There are several options for mitigating risk from the use of chemical crop protection and indeed this is where product stewardship makes a difference.

Pesticide Risk Management and Mitigation Course by CropLife
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BASF illustrates - Why stewardship

Video (.mp4)

Use of treated seeds in IPM

Treated seeds have been used for decades as a mean to control soil-borne pests and pathogens, safeguarding the germination and establishment of strong crops. Seed treatment use poses one of the multiple approaches within IPM framework, assisting farmers to safely grow healthy and high yield crops, reducing stresses caused by biotic factors like soil-borne pathogens.

For more information regarding the proper use of treated seeds, please visit our dedicated page's media gallery. You can also refer to the video by CLI Latin America on the importance of using treated seeds.

Related topics

Stewardship of Biodiversity and Soil Health
Natural habitats bear inherent complexity, so protecting and promoting their health is fundamental for sustainable and productive agriculture. It is crucial to implement practical measures in agricultural landscapes both in- and off-field to foster biodiversity and soil health.
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Seed Treatment
Learn about best practices for seed treatment, as well as handling and sowing of treated seeds.
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Resistance Management
Resistance is a basic survival mechanism and occurs through natural selection. All farmers, regardless of their production system (organic, conventional, biotech), are challenged with the simple fact that every pest control method has a limited life span because pests naturally evolve and become resistant. 
  1. Read more