Landscape considerations in pest management: Case study of the Arizona cotton IPM system

Authors: NARANJO, STEVEN - Retired ARS Employee; ELLSWORTH, PETER - University Of Arizona

Submitted to: Book Chapter
Publication Type: Book / Chapter
Publication Acceptance Date: 6/19/2024
Publication Date: 9/4/2024
Citation: Naranjo, S., Ellsworth, P.C. 2024. Landscape considerations in pest management: Case study of the Arizona cotton IPM system. Book Chapter. (3): 44-47. 10.1079/9781800622777.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1079/9781800622777

Interpretive Summary: Integrated Pest Management (IPM) for Arizona cotton has continually evolved for >30 years with a foundation of integrated avoidance tactics, thresholds, sampling, use of selective technologies fostering conservation biological control and with community-based approaches to enable broad-scale education/adoption by growers. Implicit and explicit landscape considerations are involved because all the key insect pests are mobile. Multiple IPM tactics are practiced on individual farms, but many growers using them profoundly impact pest and natural enemy populations regionally. Explicit cooperative engagement in pest eradication, insecticide resistance management, and crop placement contribute further to landscape scale IPM. Growers have saved >$600M in control costs and yield loss savings since 1996, with an 85 – 90% reduction in insecticide use. “Hard” technologies such as Bt cottons and selective insecticides, and “soft” technologies (use instructions), implemented through research, development, and deployment enable a collective implementation of individual practices, harnessing the power of landscape level cooperative management.

Technical Abstract: Integrated Pest Management (IPM) for cotton in Arizona has been under continual evolution for many decades. For over 30 years its foundation has rested on the careful integration of avoidance tactics, thresholds, sampling, and the use of selective insecticides and technologies to foster conservation biological control along with a crucial community-based approach to enable broad-scale education of and adoption by cotton growers and their consultants. The success of this strategy and its evolution involves both implicit and explicit consideration of the landscape context because all the key insect pests of this system are mobile, and several are highly polyphagous. Most tactics such as sampling, thresholds, effective insecticide use, conservation biological control, and crop management are practiced on individual farms. But because many growers use these tactics, they have profound regional impact on pest and natural enemy populations. Cotton growers explicitly engage in cooperative practices such as pest eradication, insecticide resistance management, and crop placement that contribute further to sustainable IPM on a landscape scale. Many of these gains were enabled through the development of new “hard” technologies such as Bt cottons and selective insecticides. However, the Arizona cotton IPM system’s success is rooted in the research, development, and deployment of the requisite set of “soft” technologies or use instructions needed to collectively implement individual practices and harness the power of landscape level cooperative management. The overall result has been a savings of over $600M in control costs and yield loss savings for growers since 1996, along with an associated 85 – 90% reduction in insecticide use, and an increasing focus on natural control elements as the engine driving further innovations. Here we discuss the development, implementation, and evolution of the cotton IPM program for Arizona, with emphasis on the critical importance of a landscape perspective for its current and future success.