Pest and Pesticide Management in Illinois Agriculture: Status and Policy Options

摘要

Despite forty years of using synthetic organic chemicals as pesticides, a wide array of health, environmental, and economic concerns remain unresolved. Illinois farmers, because of the state's vast acreage in field crops, apply millions of pounds of herbicides, insecticides, fungicides, and nematicides every year -- at an annual cost of about half a billion dollars. The study summarizes the current status of integrated pest management (ipm) in Illinois, describes major problem areas in further implementation of ipm, describes the institutional and policy aspects of pest management, and suggests options for state policies that could further implement integrated pest management in Illinois.