Field Crops IPM Podcast: What exactly is IPM anyway?

 Welcome to the 5th IPM Podcast for Field Crops of 2020. Subscribe to the podcast and never miss an episode on iTunes, Google Podcasts, and Spotify.

This Podcast is sponsored by the UMN Extension Integrated Pest Management (IPM) Program. In this week’s podcast, we feature Dr. Anthony Hanson, co-host of this podcast who was recently hired as an Extension Educator for Field Crops IPM through University of Minnesota Extension.

Dr. Hanson recently began his new position as a Regional Extension Educator based out of Morris, MN. He coordinates fields crops IPM related programming across Minnesota with researchers and other educators for issues such as diseases, insects, and weeds. He grew up farming near Brooten in west-central Minnesota raising corn, soybean, alfalfa, and beef cattle, and he previously worked in the Department of Entomology where he received his Master's and PhD.

To wrap up 2020, Dr. Hanson talked about IPM as a toolbox that all farmers and agricultural scientists carry around that can be used differently for each farm, crop, and pest:

1. Pesticides - fungicides, herbicides, insecticides, etc.
   
2. Host-plant resistance - plant genetics that make the plant inhospitable, unattractive, or able to tolerate damage.
   
3. Biological control - predators or "natural enemies" of pests that keep insect, weed, or pathogen populations low.
   
4. Cultural control - crop rotation or mowing (sometimes called mechanical control) that make the environment less hospitable for the pest and breaks or slows their life cycle.
   
5. Reproductive disruption - preventing weeds from going to seed or pheromone disruption in insects.

Each tool is valuable on its own, but using them together at the right time to reduce the risk of one tool failing, financial risk to growers, or environmental risks, is a goal of IPM. During the growing season, this podcast focuses episodes on individual pests and how to address them specifically, so this episode takes a broader look at IPM to give a brief overview of overall approaches to IPM.

If you have a question related to field crop pests and where to get more information related to them, Dr. Hanson can be contacted at hans4022@umn.edu.

This podcast was hosted by Dave Nicholai, Crops Extension Educator & Coordinator of the Extension Institute for Ag Professionals. The purpose of the IPM podcast is to alert Growers, Ag Professionals and Educators about emerging pest concerns on Minnesota field crops. We also review recent pest trends and research updates.

Click here to listen to the podcast

For IPM Program updates, visit the UMN Extension IPM website.