Integrated pest management (IPM) refers to a coordinated decision-making and action process that uses the most appropriate pest control methods and strategies in an environmentally and economically sound manner to meet agency pest management objectives.
The elements of integrated pest management include the following:
- Preventing pest problems
- Monitoring for the presence of pests and pest damage
- Establishing the density of the pest population, which may be set at zero, that can be tolerated or correlated with a damage level sufficient to warrant treatment of the problem based on health, public safety, economic, or aesthetic thresholds
- Treating pest problems to reduce populations below those levels established by damage thresholds using strategies that may include biological, cultural, mechanical, and chemical control methods and that shall consider human health, ecological impact, feasibility, and cost effectiveness
- Evaluating the effects and efficacy of pest treatments
Pest refers to any vertebrate or invertebrate animal, pathogen, parasitic plant, weed, or similar organism that can cause disease or damage to crops, trees, shrubs, grasses or other plants, humans, animals, or property.
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