Environmental Pest Management: The Need for Long-term Governmental Commitment

For thousands of years, farmers have protected their crops by combating one pest at a time, using a single control method with very little consideration of the surrounding environment. In its early form, Integrated Pest Management (IPM) was intended to provide a more holistic approach to pest management than the ‘supervised control’ that was commonplace at the time. However, when public support later declined, agro-chemical companies were quick to step in and take on a major role in directing pest management back towards supervised control. To reduce yield losses to pests and produce more food in sustainable and environmentally compatible ways, major long-term governmental commitments are needed. We argue that governmental inputs acting to promote sustainable agricultural practices and nature conservation should have four main thrusts that are currently missing in most legislation: (1) establishing goal-oriented agro-environmental schemes, (2) externalizing the true costs of pesticide use, (3) strengthening the public extension service, and (4) soliciting goal-specific research.