Integrated Pest Management and Soil Health – John Tooker
No-till, cover crops and diverse rotations help build soil health, but they can also build populations of arthropod predators that will control pests. Unfortunately, many farmers inadvertently handicap their farm fields by overusing pesticides, particularly insecticides. John discusses the benefits of using integrated pest management to help protect soil health while managing insect and slug populations by building predator populations.
John is a professor and extension specialist in the Department of Entomology at Penn State University. By studying relationships among plants, insects and natural enemies and exploiting their biology and ecology, he aims to provide strategies for more sustainable insect pest management.
From our 2020 annual conference: Reclaiming Resilience.