Integrated Pest Management (IPM), or Integrated Crop Protection (ICP), is an effective combination of chemical, cultural and biological methods to keep weeds, insect pest numbers, disease pressure, and other crop production problems low enough to reduce the risk of significant economic loss. It aims to do this by preventing pest introduction to the production system and interrupting pest lifecycles at their most vulnerable stage. It compliments or provides practical alternatives to conventional pest control that often relies on synthetic chemicals applied on a calendar basis.

Is your spray rig fit for purpose?

To answer this, you should evaluate 3 key principles of spray management:

• spray timing
• equipment calibration and
• spray coverage.

This covers the application of products including fungicides, insecticides, herbicides, liquid fertilisers, and other amendments. By getting the correct overlap between these you’ll have the best chance of achieving effective spraying, reduce off-target impacts and reduce costly inputs.