Integrated Pest Management for Crops and Pastures

By Paul Horne and Jessica Page

Integrated Pest Management for Crops and Pastures describes in straightforward language what is required for farmers to successfully implement Integrated Pest Management (IPM) in cropping and grazing operations. It explains the differences between conventional pesticide-based controls and IPM, and demonstrates the advantages of IPM.

Effective control of pests depends on a number of approaches, not just chemical or genetic engineering. The opening chapters cover the different approaches to pest management, and the importance of identification and monitoring of pests and beneficials. Most farmers and advisors can identify major pests but would struggle to recognise a range of beneficial species. Without this information it is impossible to make appropriate decisions on which control methods to use, especially where pests are resistant to insecticides.

The book goes on to deal with the control methods: biological, cultural and chemical. The biological control agents discussed include both native and introduced species that attack pests. Cultural changes that have led to an increase in the incidence or severity of pest attack are also examined. The chapter on chemical control describes the different ways chemicals can affect beneficial species, also detailing acute, sub-lethal and transient toxicities of pesticides, drawing on examples from horticulture where necessary.

Finally, the authors bring all the components of integrated pest management together and show farmers how to put their IPM plan into action.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Landlinks Press
• Release date: Feb 4, 2008
• ISBN: 9780643099142

Book preview

INTEGRATED PEST MANAGEMENT

FOR CROPS AND PASTURES

INTEGRATED

PEST MANAGEMENT

FOR CROPS AND PASTURES

PAUL HORNE AND JESSICA PAGE

© Paul A Horne and Jessica Page 2008

All rights reserved. Except under the conditions described in the Australian Copyright Act 1968 and subsequent amendments, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, duplicating or otherwise, without the prior permission of the copyright owner. Contact Landlinks Press for all permission requests.

National Library of Australia Cataloguing-in-Publication entry

Horne, Paul A. (Paul Anthony), 1956–.

Integrated pest management for crops and pastures.

Bibliography.

Includes index.

ISBN 9780643092570 (pbk).

1. Crops – Diseases and pests – Integrated control.

2. Pastures – Diseases and pests – Integrated control.

I. Page, Jessica. II. Title.

632.9

Published by and available from:

Landlinks Press

150 Oxford Street (PO Box 1139)

Collingwood VIC 3066

Australia

Landlinks Press is an imprint of CSIRO PUBLISHING

Front cover

Main photo: ladybird

Top, from left to right: hoverfly larva, parasitic wasps and aphids, Netelia spp.

Back cover

Clockwise, from top left: redlegged earth mite, European earwigs, predatory mite, heliothis, damsel bug

Set in Adobe Minion 11/13.5 and Adobe Helvetica Neue

Cover and text design by James Kelly

Typeset by Desktop Concepts P/L, Melbourne

Printed in Australia by Ligare

The opinions, advice and information contained in this publication have not been provided at the request of any person but are offered solely to provide information.

While the information contained in this publication has been formulated with all due care the publisher, author and agents accept no responsibility for any person acting or relying on or upon any opinion, advice or information and disclaims all liability for any error, omission, defect or mis-statement (whether such error, omission, defect or mis-statement is caused by or arises from negligence or otherwise) or for any loss or other consequence that may arise from any person relying on anything in this publication.

Contents

Foreword

Acknowledgements

List of tables

List of insect plates

Chapter 1    Introduction

Chapter 2    Pest management and IPM

Chapter 3    Pests

Why do some insects and mites become pests?

Factors that increase pest pressure

Environmental factors beyond our control

Thresholds

Descriptions of pest species

Resident pests

Transient pests

Chapter 4    Biological controls

Definitions

Resident beneficials

Transient species

Generalist predator

Specialist parasite

Introduced/exotic

Descriptions of beneficial species

Brown lacewings

Carabid beetles

Damsel bugs

Shield bugs

Predatory earwigs

Predatory mites

Parasitic wasps

Ladybird beetles

Hoverflies

Spiders

Chapter 5:    Cultural controls

Definitions

Examples of cultural control

Tillage

Burning

Rotation

Variety selection

Time of planting

Location

Weed management

Intercropping: trap crops

Provision of alternative food sources

Tree planting

Beetle banks

Physical barriers

Integration of cultural controls

Applying knowledge of cultural controls

Chapter 6:    Chemical (pesticide) controls

Introduction

Effects of pesticides on beneficial species

How do you decide if a product is safe for beneficial species inagriculture?

Pesticides and organics

Pesticide options where no selective product is available

Pesticides and IPM

Chapter 7:    Monitoring and getting started

What to look for

Who should monitor the crops?

Selecting your first IPM paddocks

How to monitor a paddock

When to monitor

Recording information

Decision making

When to use a pesticide and what to use

Specific examples of monitoring with some selected scenarios

Scenario 1: Canola

Scenario 2: Summer brassicas

Scenario 3: Cereals

Scenario 4: New lucerne

Chapter 8:    Case studies and examples

Further sources

References

Index

Foreword

Integrated Pest Management is a relatively new concept for Australian broadacre crop and livestock producers, despite the fact it has been employed within the horticultural and intensive agricultural industries for many decades. I suggest that some of the reasons why broadacre cropping and livestock producers have not adopted an IPM approach in the past, have been the fear of catastrophic financial loss, limited understanding of the principles of IPM and a near total domination by the chemical companies as to how pest species should be controlled.

Meeting with Paul Horne and Jessica Page some seven years ago opened my mind to alternative approaches to controlling insect pests. At the time our farmers in the western districts of Victoria were losing the battle against slugs, with many canola crops being badly eaten at emergence resulting in depressed yields and a loss of faith in the crop. At the time we had tried alternative baiting strategies, principally relying on different products, rates and timings. We were making limited progress and needed a fresh approach. This was where Paul and Jessica came in, along with Dr Jim Fortune from the Grains Research and Development Corporation who showed real vision and was willing to fund an alternative approach to controlling the pest problem. This was the start of the Integrated Pest Management approach to controlling slugs and other insect species in crops in south-west Victoria.

The journey with Paul and Jessica in developing an IPM approach to pest control over the last few years has been an extremely exciting one, albeit somewhat nerve-racking at times. We were unsure just how effective an IPM approach was going to be, given the limited knowledge and un-chartered waters we were operating in. The pioneering farmers such as Rowan Peel and John Hamilton who committed significant areas of their farm to the new IPM system, showed extreme courage, however they knew that their total reliance on chemical control had to cease because of escalating costs and failure to adequately control the pests.

Paul and Jessica were very ably supported by Peter O’Loughlin from Agvise P/L who encouraged many of his clients to take on this new approach. Paul and Jessica worked closely with the cooperating farmers, building knowledge and confidence over time. Now there are many producers adopting an Integrated Pest Management approach across significant areas of their farm.

This publication is the result of significant effort of many people. For the publication to work, however, it needed the expertise of Paul and Jessica. This publication will certainly assist people who are investigating an IPM approach. Paul and Jessica have clearly outlined the principles of IPM, wonderfully presented the different pests and predators and their relationships, along with outlining some excellent farmer case studies.

We are no longer operating in the dark when it comes to implementing an Integrated Pest Management system on farms in southern Victoria. I am sure that the principles can be applied in many other regions. Well done Paul and Jessica for presenting such an excellent publication.

Colin Hacking

Retired CEO Southern Farming Systems

Acknowledgements

We appreciate the help and support given to us by many people that have led to the production of this book. We thank, in particular, GRDC for their funding support of our IPM approach in cropping (Projects IPM 0001 and 0002), and also Col Hacking (Southern Farming Systems) and Peter O’Loughlin (AgVise Pty Ltd) who, along with Rowan Peel, were among the very first to help us attempt to implement IPM in cropping in Victoria. We also thank the many farmers that AgVise assist, and Cam Nicholson who has helped us move from awareness to adoption. Cam Nicholson also provided funding via Grain & Graze for the photographs of invertebrates used in this book, all of which were taken by Denis Crawford. (Grain & Graze is a collaboration between four leading research and development corporations – Land & Water Australia, Grains Research and Development Corporation, Meat & Livestock Australia, and Australian Wool Innovation Limited – and also farmer and landcare groups, research providers and regional management authorities. Southern Farming Systems (SFS) has been our key partner.) We thank Neil Hives for his dedicated work implementing our IPM approach in Victoria. We also thank Kate Lorey for her technical assistance and care of our insect colonies that are essential in our projects.

We acknowledge a great debt to Janet, James and Claire Horne and Ivy Page and Brian Pribble for their tolerance for time away from them while we wrote this book.

Finally we thank Ted Hamilton (CSIRO Publishing), who saw the potential of this book after hearing us present a paper on IPM at the Grasslands Conference in Ballarat.

List of tables

Table 2.1      Table describing a hypothetical IPM strategy for any crop or pasture

Table 2.2a     Hypothetical IPM strategy for canola, initial stage

Table 2.2b     Hypothetical IPM strategy for canola, identification of beneficials

Table 2.2c     Hypothetical IPM strategy for canola, cultural strategies

Table 2.2d     Hypothetical IPM strategy for canola, chemical pesticides

Table 2.2e     Completed hypothetical IPM strategy for canola crops

Table 3.1      Thresholds available for some pests in cereals and canola

Table 8.1      Direct cost savings from IPM compared to Agvise clients

Table 8.2      IPM experiences of three vineyards in Victoria

List of insect plates

1

Introduction

The starting point