Core 4 Pest Management Joseph K. Bagdon USDA - NRCS National Water and Climate Center

Pest Management Training l Core 4 Training l Extension and state agency training in pest management and pesticide applicator safety l Certified Crop Advisor Program l NRCS Comprehensive self-paced study course entitled “Nutrient and Pest Management Considerations in a Resource Management System Plan”

Core 4 Pest Management l Integrate pest management, which includes weed, insect and disease management, with: –Conservation Tillage/Residue Management –Crop Nutrient Management –Conservation Buffers –and other Conservation Practices

Pest Management and l Residue Management –Reduces erosion and runoff –Increases organic matter and microbial activity l Nutrient Management –Optimizes growth l Conservation Buffers –Capture sediment at the edge of the field –Increase infiltration

NRCS Pest Management l To help support Core 4: –Revising NRCS Pest Management Policy –Revising National Pest Management Standard –Developed new Pest Management Job Sheet l Pest Management is a component of a Conservation Plan –Based on our Pest Management Standard –Includes Practice Specifications

Pest Management Implementation l Draft Standard Purposes: – enhance crop quality and quantity – minimize negative impacts to identified resource concerns (SWAPA+H) l Draft Policy Targeting: – impaired or threatened water bodies identified through monitoring and/or modeling l EPA TMDL - SDWA implementation l EPA Pesticide Management Plan implementation

Draft Policy l NRCS role in pest management l Evaluate environmental risks associated with pest management l Develop appropriate mitigation alternatives for decision-maker consideration l Encourage widespread adoption of Integrated Pest Management (IPM) programs that help protect natural resources l Assist landowners with development and implementation of an acceptable Pest Management component of the overall conservation plan

Draft Policy l Certification –All persons who review or approve plans for pest management will be certified through a certification program accepted by NRCS in the state involved. A person who develops a pest management component of the overall conservation plan does not have to be certified.

Plan Components  plan and soil map of managed fields if applicable  location of sensitive resources and setbacks if applicable  crop sequence and rotation if applicable  identification of target pests (and IPM scheme for monitoring pest pressure when available)

Plan Components  recommended* methods of pest management (biological, cultural, mechanical or chemical), including rates, product and form, timing, and method of applying pest management * Note: pesticide recommendations come from Extension and other pest control advisors, not NRCS

Plan Components  results of pest management environmental assessments (SPISP, WIN-PST, NAPRA, RUSLE etc.) and a narrative describing potential impacts on non-target plants and animals, through soil, water and air resources as appropriate  operation and maintenance instructions

Draft Standard l Integrated Pest Management (IPM) programs that strive to balance economics, efficacy and environmental risks will be utilized where available. l If IPM programs are not available, the level of pest control must be the minimum necessary to meet the producer’s objectives for commodity quantity and quality.

Draft Standard l An appropriate set of mitigation techniques must be implemented to address the environmental risks of pest management activities in order to adequately treat identified resource concerns. Mitigation techniques include practices like filter strips and crop rotation, and management techniques like application timing and method.

Draft Standard l The requirement that the producer will maintain records of pest management for at least two years. Pesticide application records will be in accordance with USDA Agricultural Marketing Service's Pesticide Record Keeping Program and state specific requirements.

Current Focus: Water Quality l Management factors that reduce the potential for pesticide movement below the rootzone and beyond the edge of the field (including management of crop, residue/tillage, water and pesticide(s) l Conservation Buffers that reduce pesticide movement beyond the edge of the field

Integrated Pest Management (IPM) Defined l Integrated pest management is an approach to pest control that combines biological, cultural and other alternatives to chemical control with the judicious use of pesticides. The objective of IPM is to maintain pest levels below economically damaging levels while minimizing harmful effects of pest control on human health and environmental resources.

Basic Concepts l A pest is any organism (plant or animal) judged by people as undesirable l Ecologically speaking, no organism is born a pest; it all depends on human perspective l Pest problems do not arise as independent or isolated events: Crops and pests are part of an agroecosystem

Pest Types l Insects l Nematodes l Pathogens l Vertebrates l Weeds

IPM l Integrated means that a broad interdisciplinary approach is taken using scientific principles of plant protection to bring together a variety of management tactics into an overall strategy. l IPM strives for maximum use of naturally occurring control forces in the pest's environment, including weather, pest diseases, predators, and parasites.

IPM Theory

Implementing IPM Theory l Use cultural methods, biological controls and other alternatives to pesticides l Use field scouting, pest forecasting and economic thresholds to ensure that pesticides are only used for real pest problems l Match pesticides with site characteristics to minimize off-site environmental risks

Examples of Cultural Controls l Crop rotation l Tillage operations that turn the soil and bury crop debris l Altering planting and harvest dates l Altering seeding rates/crop spacing l Seedbed preparation, fertilizer application and irrigation schedules that help plants outgrow pests

Examples of Cultural Controls l Sanitation practices such as cleaning tillage and harvesting equipment l Certified seed that is free of pathogens and weed seed l Cover crops l Trap crops l Pest resistant varieties

Biological Controls l Predators - free-living animals that eat other animals (insects) l Parasitoids - insect parasites of other insects l Pathogens - disease causing microorganisms

Economic Thresholds

IPM Today

IPM Delays Pest Resistance l The innate (genetically inherited) ability of organisms to evolve strains that can survive exposure to control measures that worked on earlier generations. l In theory, pests can develop resistance to any type of control. l In practice, resistance occurs most frequently in response to pesticide use. (600 resistant insects, 100 resistant weeds)

“Take Home” IPM Principles l There is no silver bullet. l Tolerate, don’t eradicate. l Treat the causes of pest outbreaks, not the symptoms. l If you kill the natural enemies, you inherit their job. l Pesticides are not a substitute for good farming.

USDA National IPM Initiative l Voluntary goal of implementing IPM on 75% of U.S. cropland by the year 2002 Involves farmers and other pest control advisors in the development of IPM programs to increase subsequent adoption l IPM benefits everyone: it can reduce environmental risk, improve food safety and increase farmer profitability

Environmental Risks of Pest Management l Chemical control –Risk of pesticides leaving the Agricultural Management Zone (AMZ) in soil, water and air, and negatively impacting non-target plants, animals and humans – [AMZ is bounded by the top of the crop canopy, the bottom of the rootzone, and the edge of the field] –Risk of harming beneficial organisms –Risk to personal safety (Worker Protection)

Pesticide Environmental Fate l Pesticide Persistence and Mobility in Soil –Soil properties –Hydraulic loading on the soil –Crop management practices –Pesticide properties –Pesticide management factors l application methods l timing

Pesticide Environmental Fate Properties and NRCS Soil/Pesticide Interaction Screening Procedure (SPISP) Pesticide Ratings

Sensitivity of Ground and Surface Water l Sensitivity refers to intrinsic physical and biological characteristics of a particular site that make it more or less susceptible to ground or surface water contamination l Sensitivity parameters include: –climate –soil characteristics (texture, depth,OM, slope) –distance to water bodies

l Vulnerability refers to extrinsic management factors that could make a sensitive site more or less susceptible to ground or surface water contamination l Vulnerability parameters include: –pest management practices (including pesticide use practices) –cropping, tillage and irrigation practices Vulnerability of Ground and Surface Water

Scales of Pesticide Environmental Risk Analysis l National assessments can be used to identify potential problem areas and set national workload priorities l Watershed level analysis can identify an effective set of management solutions l Field level analysis can be used to apportion management solutions site-specifically

Field Office Tools: l Screening tools are available to help address identified water resource concerns in targeted areas l The Windows Pesticide Screening Tool (WIN-PST) evaluates the potential for off- site pesticide movement in water, and its relative potential to chronically impact humans and sensitive fish species (Risk = Exposure x Toxicity)

WIN-PST l Evaluates three pesticide loss pathways: –Leaching below the rootzone –Solution runoff beyond the edge of the field –Adsorbed runoff beyond the edge of the field l Includes considerations for: –Climate and Irrigation –Soil properties (and macropores) –Field-specific organic matter and topsoil depth –Apparent high water table

WIN-PST l Includes considerations for: –Crop residue management –Pesticide application methods l broadcast, banded, foliar, soil incorporated –Application Rates l standard, low, ultra low l Results designed to guide the site-specific choice of appropriate mitigation strategies for all recommended pesticide uses

Solution Runoff: Human Risk

Pesticide Trapping with Conservation Buffers l Pesticides vary in how tightly they are adsorbed to soil particles l Higher pesticide Koc values indicate strong adsorption to soil l Eroded soil carries the majority of this kind of pesticide leaving fields in runoff l Conservation buffers that are effective in trapping sediment will trap these pesticides

l Pesticides with lower Koc values tend to move more in water than adsorbed to sediment l To be effective in trapping this type of pesticide, buffers need to increase water infiltration or maximize contact of runoff with vegetation that may adsorb pesticide Pesticide Trapping with Conservation Buffers

In Summary, We Want To: l Integrate environmental risk into the pest management decision-making process l Apply appropriate mitigation strategies on a site-specific basis l Consider pest management interrelationships with climate, and soil, water, nutrient and crop management, in order to minimize negative impacts to non-target plants, animals and humans