NATIONAL ACADEMY PRESS
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NOTICE: The project that is the subject of this report was approved by the Governing Board of the National Research Council, whose members are drawn from the councils of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, and the Institute of Medicine. The members of the committee responsible for the report were chosen for their special competencies and with regard for appropriate balance.
This report has been reviewed by a group other than the authors according to procedures approved by a Report Review Committee consisting of members of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, and the Institute of Medicine.
This report has been prepared with funds provided by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service and Agricultural Research Service, and by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Office of Pesticide Policy under agreement number 59-32U4-0-28. Dissemination was supported by the W. K. Kellogg Foundation.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Ecologically based pest management : new solutions for a new century / Committee on Pest and Pathogen Control Through Management of Biological Control Agents and Enhanced Cycles and Natural Processes, Board on Agriculture, National Research Council.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references (p. ) and index.
ISBN 0-309-05330-7 (alk. paper)
1. Agricultural pests—Integrated control. 2. Agricultural pests—Integrated control—Environmental aspects. 3. Agricultural ecology. I. National Research Council (U.S.). Committee on Pest and Pathogen Control Through Management of Biological Control Agents and Enhanced Cycles and Natural Processes.
SB950.E365 1996
632’.96—dc20 96-4946
CIP
© 1996 by the National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.
Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the view of the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Printed in the United States of America
COMMITTEE ON PEST AND PATHOGEN CONTROL THROUGH MANAGEMENT OF BIOLOGICAL CONTROL AGENTS AND ENHANCED NATURAL CYCLES AND PROCESSES
RALPH W. F. HARDY, Chair,
The Boyce Thompson Institute, Ithaca, New York
ROGER N. BEACHY,
The Scripps Research Institute, La Jolla, California
HAROLD BROWNING,
University of Florida
JERRY D. CAULDER,
Mycogen Corporation, San Diego, California
RAGHAVAN CHARUDATTAN,
University of Florida
PETER FAULKNER,
Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada
FRED L. GOULD,
North Carolina State University
MAUREEN KUWANO HINKLE,
National Audubon Society, Washington, D.C.
BRUCE A. JAFFEE,
University of California, Davis
MARY K. KNUDSON,
University of Michigan
W. JOE LEWIS,
U.S. Department of Agriculture, Tifton, Georgia
JOYCE E. LOPER,
U.S. Department of Agriculture, Corvallis, Oregon
DANIEL L. MAHR,
University of Wisconsin, Madison
NEAL K. VAN ALFEN,
Texas A&M University
Consultant
ALLAN EAGLESHAM,
Ithaca, New York
Staff
MARY JANE LETAW, Project Officer
CRAIG COX, Project Officer*
JANET OVERTON, Editor
VIOLA HOREK, Project Assistant
CRISTELLYN BANKS, Senior Secretary and Project Assistant†
BOARD ON AGRICULTURE
DALE E. BAUMAN, Chair,
Cornell University
PHILIP H. ABELSON,
American Association for the Advancement of Science, Washington, D.C.
JOHN M. ANTLE,
Montana State University
MAY R. BERENBAUM,
University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
LEONARD S. BULL,
North Carolina State University
WILLIAM B. DELAUDER,
Delaware State University
SUSAN K. HARLANDER,
The Pillsbury Company, Minneapolis, Minnesota
RICHARD R. HARWOOD,
Michigan State University
T. KENT KIRK,
U.S. Department of Agriculture, Madison, Wisconsin
JAMES R. MOSELEY,
Jim Moseley Farms, Inc., Clarks Hill, Indiana, and Purdue University
NORMAN R. SCOTT,
Cornell University
GEORGE E. SEIDEL, JR.,
Colorado State University
CHRISTOPHER R. SOMERVILLE,
Carnegie Institution of Washington, Stanford, California
JOHN R. WELSER,
The Upjohn Company, Kalamazoo, Michigan
Staff
SUSAN E. OFFUTT, Executive Director
CARLA CARLSON, Assistant Executive Director
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Preface
At the request of the U.S. Department of Agriculture and with support from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the National Research Council's Board on Agriculture convened the 14-member Committee on Pest and Pathogen Control through Management of Biological Control Agents and Enhanced Natural Cycles and Processes to assess status of the knowledge in areas of pesticide application, host resistance, and biological-control practices and to chart future direction. Specifically, the committee was charged to address the following:
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Why do we need new arthropod, weed, and pathogen control methods in crop and forest production systems?
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What can we realistically expect from investment in new technologies?
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How do we develop effective and profitable pest control systems that rely primarily on ecological processes of control?
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How should we oversee and commercialize biological control organisms and products?
Given our charge and the record of history of the application of pesticides, breeding for disease resistance, and integrating biological control practices into production agriculture, my colleagues on the committee and I deliver this report with one key message: In both science and application, researchers, providers of inputs, and growers must progress from a product based approach to an ecologically based pest management system identified as EBPM. Management is the key word. In fact, the word control, as in biological control, is misleading. Pests in most cases cannot be controlled; pests must be managed with the objectives of a safe, profitable, and durable outcome.
With a better understanding of ecology, the inherent strengths of the managed ecosystem can be used with more modest inputs than in the past. Essentially, the change to EBPM as proposed here will require a substantial change from the primary practice of product input to the primary mind set of information and management. Ultimately, EBPM will help to address ecosystem health not by administering products alone to treat symptoms, but by integrating components that maximize use of natural processes with minimum development of resistance.
EBPM will require regulatory oversight that matches the level of risk of biological inputs added to the managed ecosystem. For example, synthetic chemicals are new to the biosphere—they have no base of performance in the environment or in relation to human health. However, biologically based organisms, products, and resistant cultivars are inherently different, for the most part, from synthetics. Biological processes, having existed in nature over time, provide a base of experience that is a major resource to evaluate the safe application and establish appropriate oversight of EBPM. Biologically based products are not inherently different from synthetics in their vulnerability to development of resistance, although history suggests that such will be less frequent. Users will need to monitor managed ecosystems for early identification of pest resistance.
In this report we place major emphasis on the research information needs and on appropriate regulatory oversight. The committee also urges an interactive, cooperative approach to development of EBPM. Given the other individuals and organizations addressing issues relating to the adoption of new pest management approaches, we have only modestly considered adoption in our report.
In this deliberative report the Executive Summary presents the findings and key recommendations. Chapter 1 describes the history of pest management and the limitations of current practices. Chapter 2 details the committee's new approach to pest management, ecologically based pest management. Chapter 3 identifies priority research areas and discusses important institutional changes to effectively carry out that research. Chapter 4 assesses regulatory oversight and aspects of risk assessment and management.
The contents of this report offer a new paradigm, the concept of EBPM. We are optimistic that the development and application of the principles of EBPM will contribute to a future with high-quality food, fiber, and forest production and sound management of our natural resources for safety, profitability, and durability.
RALPH W. F. HARDY, Chair
Committee on Pest and Pathogen Control through Management of Biological Control Agents and Enhanced Natural Cycles and Processes
THE COMMITTEE ACKNOWLEDGES with deep appreciation all those who contributed their expertise to this project. The committee is especially grateful for the contributions of Joseph Panetta of Mycogen Corporation. Mr. Panetta provided useful ideas and insights based on his experience with registration and commercialization of biological control products.