Integrated Pest Management (IPM) is an ecosystems-based approach to managing pests. It emphasises reducing the negative impacts of pest management on agro-ecosystems, through using natural pest control (such as supporting a healthy ladybird population, which helps control aphids), improving crop resilience, and minimising the use of pesticides.

IPM was developed in response to the negative impacts of synthetic pesticide use, which makes it particularly relevant for SPRINT’s work. Synthetic pesticides emerged at scale from technologies developed during the second world war, and led to radical changes in agricultural pest management. However, pesticide resistance amongst target pest species and negative environmental and human health impacts associated with pesticide use soon emerged. By the 1950s, practices which align with the modern principle of IPM were being used to combat these impacts, and the term ‘IPM’ coined in the US in 1967.

 Over recent years, the term has been adopted by a broad range of agricultural stakeholders, all supporting its principles. But what is IPM, where did it come from, and what is its significance for the SPRINT project?

Source: Canva Pro

Pesticides, including herbicides, insecticides, and fungicides, and also known as plant protection products, are used globally in agriculture and a number of other industries. This article explores the interactions between pesticides and human health, a subject at the core of SPRINT’s ongoing work.