Silverleaf whitefly adult.  Photo by Jack Kelly Clark.

Partnerships are essential in implementing IPM

UC Cooperative Extension and UC IPM are well known for their development of integrated pest management knowledge and approaches. While results are often implemented through demonstration and publications, reaching a receptive audience to adopt system-level integration is sometimes difficult.

“Forming partnerships with community-based organizations can provide access to motivated clientele,” says UC IPM Advisor Pete Goodell. “For example, the Community Alliance with Family Farmers (CAFF) has developed a network within a community that is looking for solutions to specific problems. The farmers and pest control advisors need to know where to get answers.”

UC IPM has partnered with CAFF’s Sustainable Cotton Project (SCP) to provide science-based problem solving to specific settings. UC IPM’s support through the involvement of Goodell has offered alternatives to pest management situations.

SCP has developed production criteria called BASIC (Biological Agricultural Systems in Cotton) that promote biologically intensive approaches to cotton pest management. The foundation of the approach has been based on UC IPM’s Integrated Pest Management for Cotton, cotton pest management guidelines, and the year-round IPM program for cotton. BASIC growers sign up some of their cotton fields and agree to produce cotton in a more biologically reliant manner, which includes the prohibition of certain organophosphate and carbamate insecticides.

UC IPM supports alternative approaches to the use of these products by:

• Promoting early and frequent scouting.
• Using established action thresholds.
• Understanding the role of natural enemies and the importance of conserving them.
• Aiding in the selection of effective reduced-risk and selective alternate insecticides.
• Preserving alfalfa habitat through strip border harvest.
• Serving on the Technical Advisory Committee and being available for consultations with the community.
• Supporting an environment of participatory interaction among growers, PCAs, and university specialists.

“The importance of local involvement in defining the problems and seeking locally relevant solutions cannot be underestimated,” says Goodell. “When people are actively engaged in participatory demonstrations, little coaxing by IPM advisors is required. IPM advisors become more like coaches, encouraging incremental changes in the existing production and IPM system."

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