ABSTRACT

Smith, R.F. 1978. Development of integrated pest management in California. California Agriculture 32(2): 5.

The term integrated pest management was coined in the early 1970’s. The earliest use of the term integrated control, at least in the context of pest control, dates from 1954. Most discussions of the origins of integrated control have centered on the over-dependence on and the over-use of chemical pesticides after World War II and the unfavorable consequences that resulted: the development of pest populations resistant to pesticides, rapid resurgence of target pest populations following treatment, and outbreaks of secondary pests. As the agricultural experiment stations emerged in the United States in the late nineteenth century, entomologists and plant pathologists began to discover biological explanations for the earlier, empirically developed pest control methodology. Some crop protection specialists continue to discredit the IPM concept as representing only new jargon applied to long-established crop protection practices. We acknowledge that IPM is not a disjunct development in crop protection, it is an evolutionary stage in pest control strategy, but it represents a new conceptual approach that sets crop protection in a new context within a crop production system. IPM as now conceived, integrates multidisciplinary methodologies in developing agro-ecosystem management strategies that are practical, effective, economical, and protective of both public health and the environment.