Advances with Integrated Pest Management as a component of sustainable agriculture: the case of the Australian cotton industry

Insect pests represent a significant limitation for production of many crops. Traditional reliance on pesticides brings significant economic costs and environmental liabilities of off-target drift, chemical residues and resistance. IPM has long been proposed as an alternative. The adoption of IPM in the Australian cotton industry provides a valuable overview of the key components of IPM and the issues around successful implementation. IPM must be founded on a thorough understanding of the ecology of pest and beneficial species and their interaction with the crop and will provide a range of tactics which must be integrated by the producer to achieve economic and environmental sustainability. The emerging era of insect-resistant transgenic cottons offers real prospects to provide a foundation for more sustainable, economically acceptable IPM with the integration of a range of non-chemical tactics and much less reliance on pesticides. Media Summary Integrated pest management continues to evolve some 30 years after introduction of its concepts. IPM in the Australian cotton industry now includes a year-round ecosystem approach, management of beneficial insects, more selective pesticides, transgenic varieties with two-gene insect resistance and wide use of decision support systems