The recently published UK National Action Plan for Pesticides outlines how government will support farmers to manage pests, weeds and diseases sustainably, minimising the risks and impacts on human health and the environment from pesticides, whilst supporting food security.
At the heart of this plan is integrated pest management (IPM) and sustainable crop protection.
IPM is a sustainable approach to preventing and managing pests, weeds and diseases on your land. It can help strengthen both food production and farm resilience.
IPM guidance is available on GOV.UK. It outlines the aims and principles and includes a plan template with crop-specific guidance to help you consider different control measures and assess and evaluate your IPM approach.
The guidance also includes a decision support tool to help you make informed on-farm decisions.
Soon you will be able to apply for grants to access equipment, technology and take part in innovative farm-led trials which can help you to reduce pesticide use.
You can also join the free ADAS IPM knowledge-sharing network (IPM Net) which can help you review your IPM strategy and identify opportunities to improve the efficiency, sustainability and profitability of your farm.
Many farmers are already using IPM techniques. We spoke to a few of them, as well as an agronomist, about how they use IPM to grow healthy crops, support their businesses and help nature thrive.
Striking the balance to farm with nature
Establishing flower-rich grass margins, blocks, or in-field strips close to cropped areas can provide habitat for natural crop pest predators. They can support wild pollinators including bumblebees, butterflies, hoverflies and farmland birds.
Jonathan Boaz, an award-winning farmer for soil management from Worcestershire, shares how he has been using IPM for several years and what inspired him to start.
Small gains, big wins
David Bell, a farmer and Voluntary Initiative (VI) Champion and new UK Chair of the VI, from Upper Magus Farm in East Fife, shares his approach to IPM.
I have a mixed farm here in East Central Scotland where I have a beef suckler herd with arable and potato enterprises.
Prevention is always more effective than cure and maintaining a varied rotation is key to reducing the need for Plant Protection Products (PPPs) while supporting soil health.
A cornerstone for many is the AHDB Recommended Lists, where I select the best agronomic variety highlighted by disease ratings to suit my ground and market.
I prepare my fields ready for crop establishment by using a full spectrum of techniques depending on their capability. This includes full inversion deep ploughing through to direct drilling, into 4-foot-tall standing cover crops.
Working with my BASIS-trained agronomist, we assess weed, disease and pest pressures and look at tolerances and thresholds before we apply PPPs to crops.
Maintaining my sprayer correctly and having an annual National Sprayer Testing Scheme assessment as well as my own continual updates through the National Register of Sprayer Operators, ensures that my pesticides go in the right place. This means I retain the full value and effectiveness of the product on the crop.
There is no silver bullet for farming, and IPM is no different. We focus on incremental gains that add up to big wins over time.
An agronomist's view
Sean Sparling, a multi-award-winning independent agronomist shares his views on what makes IPM successful.
IPM is nothing new. Every farm employs certain IPM techniques such as rotations, variety choices, cultivation strategies, methods to encourage and increase beneficial insects and the targeted use of pesticides when necessary.
An IPM approach should not be considered as one specific action. Rather, it is a mindset and an attitude towards every decision taken, with its roots firmly anchored in good agricultural practice.
Fundamental to the success of IPM is having a dedicated mindset of the principles of IPM which will help you reach its full potential and its aims. Keeping an open mind, utilising an IPM plan and decision-making tools, as well as developing a working knowledge of IPM by putting it into practice is key.
So, embracing that IPM is a mindset, not a single action that can be deployed independently, using trial and improvement on your strategy as you go and working with an agronomist who shares your mindset can help you on your IPM journey.
Using IPM to improve soil health
David Blacker from Shipton, North Yorkshire shares how he uses IPM approaches to farm combinable crops.
Soil health is the biggest challenge on-farm and I’m particularly interested in improving it whilst increasing economic yields.
I’ve been trialling different approaches to do this over the years and as AHDB Strategic Cereal Farm North, we've been working with ADAS to design several trials. These look at improving drainage, increasing soil health, the number of worms and adjusting nitrogen and nutrient inputs in response to frequent crop monitoring.
To me, integrated pest management is just good farming practice. I take measures on farm to increase biodiversity, including having wide margins on most fields and planting pollinator strips as part of the countryside stewardship scheme.
These areas provide food sources for pollinators and support natural pest predators. Pesticides are minimally used on farm and you can see the benefits of this in the number of spiders and ladybirds, for example.
Recently, we’ve been looking at a clover understory in winter wheat to improve soil health, suppress weeds and increase nitrogen use efficiency. We’re also often trialling new technology. We are currently using soil micronutrient sensors to improve the timing of nitrogen and nutrient applications.
If you'd like to share your tips and experiences with integrated pest management, please do leave a comment below.
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