Chathill Monitor Farm meeting: Measuring the unmeasurable – how to quantify IPM

Please join Pip Robson of Chathill monitor farm, for the first meeting of the new year, to discuss how the move to adopt integrated pest management (IPM) practices has re-emerged in the last decade. Mainly as a result of legislative and environmental drivers. However, a significant shortfall exists in the ability to practically monitor and measure IPM adoption across arable farms.

On the agenda:

Henry has a background in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology with application to Agriculture. He is particularly interested in the wide range of approaches that can be employed to protect crops against biotic stress and is also heavily involved in knowledge exchange activities to encourage uptake of best practice at farm level.

10.20 Monitor farm update, Pip Robson

10.30 Henry Creissen – is it possible to quantify IPM

Arable crops in temperate climatic regions such as the UK and Ireland are subject to a multitude of pests (weeds, diseases) that can negatively impact productivity if not properly managed. Integrated pest management (IPM) is widely promoted as a sustainable approach to pest management, yet there are few recent studies assessing adoption levels and factors influencing this in arable cropping systems.

12.00 Discussion: is this practical on farm, what has been adopted, how are we going to integrate this for future sustainability?

12.30 Meeting summary and closing actions