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Main Stewardship Menu ------------------------------ The Basics of Stewardship Additional Stewardship Measures Specific to Soybean Rust Agricultural Biotechnology Integrated Pest Management Tolerances and MRLs Partnerships Personal Protection Pesticide Disposal Pollinators and Pesticide Stewardship Resistance Management Spray Drift Management Sustainable Agriculture Syngenta ENVIROfacts and Stewardship Articles The Language of Stewardship and Pest Management Water Quality ------------------------------ Stewardship Home Integrated Pest Management Introduction IPM History What is IPM? IPM Basics IPM is not Organic Agriculture IPM Adoption IPM Benefits in the Real World Syngenta's Commitment to IPM Precision Ag - A Big Lift for IPM The Producer is Key to Success The Future of IPM IPM Resources on the Web Stewardship Home IPM History People have been attempting to control pests since the beginning of agriculture, as early as 8000 BC. The Chinese first demonstrated the value of knowledge in dealing with insects around 4700 BC when they mastered silkworm culture. As crop production methods improved and the scope of agriculture expanded in the 1800's, the need for pest controls increased. In the late 1800's, the discovery of a pesticide, Bordeaux mixture, to control powdery mildew, and the grafting of rootstocks resistant to grape phylloxera, were critical in saving French vineyards from destructive pests. In the United States, advances in agricultural practices and technologies were made possible by the establishment of the Department of Agriculture and the land grant university system. By the 1930's and 1940's advancements such as hybrid corn varieties were revolutionizing crop production. This dramatic progress continued after World War II with the rapid development of effective chemical pesticides. As new technologies created dramatic improvements in agriculture, scientists also began to assess the broader context in which pest management practices were applied. The emerging resistance of insects to certain chemicals and outbreaks of "secondary pests" that had not previously been problems were among the factors that engendered further improvements. Building on the ways that farmers had already integrated practices on their farms, scientists began to develop a more holistic, systems approach to pest management. By 1959 IPM concepts such as economic thresholds, economic levels and integrated control were introduced by V.M. Stern, R.F. Smith, R. van den Bosch and K.S. Hagen. In 1962 the National Academy of Sciences formalized the term Integrated Pest Management. Although much of the impetus for IPM came from entomologists, IPM programs were subsequently developed for disease and weed management as well.