Background

A study released by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations indicates that worldwide $12 billion was spent on insecticides in 1995. Fewer more insecticidally active compounds are focused on phytophagous arthropod pests annually resulting in

•  Increased insecticide application rates
•  Decreased insecticide application periods

The intensive use of, especially broad-spectrum insecticides, results in

•  Native beneficial arthropod complex density decreases
•  Energy use increases
•  Environmental contamination increases
•  Production expense increases
•  Liability increases
•  Insecticide resistance increases

Insecticide resistance is the No. 1 obstacle to successful insect control worldwide. Billions of dollars are presently spent trying to control resistant insect biotypes with insecticides while at the same time inducing still further resistance in these same insect populations with insecticides. They only known way to reduce the threat of resistance, in the long term, is by diversifying control i.e. by controlling pest populations in multiple biological ways.

Biological control includes

•  Foreign exploration, augmentation and inundative release of (foreign/domestic) natural enemies
•  Conservation of natural enemies

For biological control to be effective, other noninvasive techniques sometimes must also be used

•  Cultural control (crop rotation, multi-cropping, tillage, sanitation, water management, etc.)
•  Host plant resistance, genetic engineering
•  Use of natural organic chemicals
•  Insect diseases
•  Pheromone disruption

These control methodologies alone or in combination are acknowledged as having solved many agricultural insecticide induced pest problems, and clearly hold promise for solving pest control problems affecting agriculture in the future. Biological control continues to provide productive, efficient and economical pest control solutions.