Integrated Pest Management in the Southern United States of America: Changing Technology and InfrastructureImplications for the Future
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2014 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht. All rights reserved. This chapter provides a history of the development of integrated pest management (IPM) in the southern U.S. and discussion of the current and future status of the discipline in the South. The historical components of the chapter are organized using the eras of pest management (Newsom 1974, Perkins 1980), and the chapter's focus in the early years is the struggle to manage, control and finally eradicate the boll weevil from cotton. Since 1996, it has become clear that American agriculture has transitioned to another era, the era of genetically modified crops that have led to significant reductions in the IPM infrastructure. As the timeline approaches the present, the focus of the chapter is broadened to discuss many of the pest management technologies which have emerged in southern crops in recent years and the impact of their adoption on agriculture and the availability of people with applied field specific IPM skills in the southern U.S. The chapter concludes with a discussion of world population projections and the importance of highly efficient agricultural production systems to meet the food and fiber needs of the growing population. The importance of training and maintaining people with the knowledge and skills to manage pests in grower fields is emphasized.