American Farmland Trust's Center for Agriculture in the Environment sponsored an IPM Measurement Systems Workshop on June 12 and 13, 1998 in Chicago, Illinois. We convened the workshop to compare findings regarding IPM assessment systems and environmental indicators that can be used to evaluate the impact of pest control methods on an area-wide scale. Additionally, we wanted to understand some of the limitations of the measurement systems and identify data gaps in the methods. We invited 24 experts in the field of IPM measurement systems from several different countries including the United States, The Netherlands, France, Germany, New Zealand and Australia.

Findings include:

• We need long-term commitment of resources for project evaluation.
• We need field studies in order to validate pesticide environmental impact assessment (EIA) tools, specifically tools which address exposure factors.
• Pesticide databases are not maintained or updated and many are not accessible or publicized. Missing data issue includes single values versus ranges that reflect uncertainty or responsiveness.
• Identify stakeholders and build coalitions to better support consistency in interpreting data. Work with stakeholders to identify needs; and better understand how people can use data. Stakeholders must agree on indicators.
• Background systems behind indicators must be robust and complex enough to develop needed data, but indicators must be easily understood and used by users.
• It is important to maintain the diversity of the "IPM Tool box." The more diverse the ecosystem becomes, the less chance there is for resistance to develop.
• We developed the idea of a diversity index (PAMS - Prevention, Avoidance, Monitoring and Suppression) as a measure of IPM resilience.

The participants concluded with the following next steps:

• EPA - measure pesticide risk reduction in the Pesticide Environmental Stewardship Program (PESP).
• USDA - keep the momentum going as well, e.g. Project in Tifton, GA, (ARS) could potentially test the diversity index. Industry and farmer involvement/participation is critical. Measure IPM programs against the four critical elements (PAMS) - use the risk circle diagram to illustrate the concept.
• Develop world data centers (clearing house) which can be accessed by all people involved in measurement systems.
• Get data/measures up on the world wide web. Use Cornell web pages including instructions as to how to retrieve data and involve IPMNet, North Carolina State University.