A farm cooperative representing several vegetable growers is considering a proposal to replace routine calendar-based pesticide spraying with integrated pest management, a system in which pesticides are applied only after regular field monitoring detects pest levels above a set threshold. Proponents argue that integrated pest management reduces the total amount of pesticide applied over a growing season, allows more of the natural predators that control pests to survive, and lowers the cooperative's total spending on pesticide over time.
Based on a one-season trial on one grower's fields, the cooperative's agronomy committee has concluded that adopting integrated pest management across all member farms would reduce pesticide costs and crop damage from pests, without reducing overall crop yield.