A continuum of integrated pest management practices in processing tomatoes

Integrated pest management (IPM) has been defined in different ways, including the use of multiple control tactics integrated into a single pest control strategy, the management of the complex of pests that attack a crop, considering the combined effects of weeds, plant diseases, insects, and nematodes, and the interactions among pests, the crop, and the environment within the context of a social, political, and economic matrix. IPM systems have also been characterized as failing along a continuum from strategies that are chemically intensive, such as pest scouting alone, to those that are biologically intensive and do not require pesticide use. Many major pests of processing tomatoes are controlled by IPM tactics. Scouting techniques and thresholds are used for tomato fruitworm, armyworms, tomato pinworm, stink bugs, potato aphid, whiteflies, nematodes, and weeds. Risk assessment models or phenology models are available for powdery mildew, tomato fruitworm, and stink bugs, and are being evaluated for blackmold and late blight. Precision farming can already target areas of fields for herbicide applications. Reduced-risk pesticides are available for certain species of arthropods and diseases, and include botanicals, inorganic minerals, and new chemistries such as neonicotinoids and insect growth regulators, providing alternatives to pesticides under regulatory scrutiny. Variable-rate applications can reduce herbicide rates. Crop rotation, irrigation management, sanitation, clean seeds and transplants, delayed planting, cultivation, and hand weeding are methods of avoiding or preventing pest damage in some situations without pesticide intervention. Biological controls such as parasite releases, microbial pesticides, resistant or tolerant varieties, and pheromone mating disruption also have application in processing tomato production.