An evaluation of cotton pest management practices in Pinal County, Arizona, 1974

Published in 1976

Integrated pest management is a procedure used to manipulate insect populations, both harmful and beneficial, through selection of various control techniques. Biological, cultural, chemical, and other control methods are used together to achieve solutions to economical, ecological, and social problems associated with insect control.

Cotton growers in Pinal County, Arizona have organized the "Growers Pest Management Corporation," an organization that practices integrated pest management. The purpose of this study was to determine the pest management practices of the members of the Growers Pest Management Corporation and compare them to pest management practices of cotton growers who were not in the corporation. The findings in this study indicate that members of the Growers Pest Management Corporation spent an average $13.66 per acre less on insecticide treatments than growers not in the corporation. An additional objective in this study was to compare the effects that different pest management consultants had on insect control practices of the cotton growers in this study. The comparison of pest management consultants was in terms of the number of insecticide treatments, types of insecticides used, and insecticide treatment costs involved with the growers in the study. Findings indicate that the corporation^ consultants and independent consultants were able to keep insecticide treatment costs lower than other consultants

AZU_TD_BOX282_E9791_1976_360.pdf (1.43 MB)

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