4th IPM Symposium

Measuring Adoption of Integrated Pest Management (IPM) Systems Using Commodity-Specific IPM Definitions and Large Scale Grower Surveys
William M. Coli and Craig S. Hollingsworth
University of Massachusetts, Amherst

Abstract :
It has become increasingly important for land-grant University research and Extension to document impacts of their efforts, including the extent to which potential end users are adopting the results of research or outreach programs. We would suggest that assessing adoption of IPM systems requires, at minimum, two things: A thorough description of the IPM system ready for adoption, and large scale surveys. This presentation describes the process used to develop commodity-specific IPM definitions (IPM Guidelines), and to conduct surveys of growers of sweet corn, strawberry, apple and potato in nine northeastern U.S. states.
IPM systems for the various crops included practices that involved management of soil and nutrients, weeds, insects, and diseases as well as a grower education component. Adoption of the system was measured by assigning numerical values for completion of specific practices, practice points were summed, and growers placed along a continuum from low-level to high-level adopters. Data are presented showing that moderate- to high-level adoption of IPM systems ranged from 69% of apple growers to 90% of potato growers.
Data are presented from other surveys indicating that apple growers in Massachusetts operating larger farms (> 20 acres) used more insect monitoring traps, directly observed greater numbers of pests and beneficials and used more IPM practices overall than those operating smaller farms (< 20 acres). Larger farms also used fewer dosage equivalents of insecticide (5.6 D.E) than smaller ones (7.8 D.E.).