An Economic Examination of an Integrated Pest Management Production System with a Contrast Between E-V and Stochastic Dominance Analysis

Abstract

Agricultural economists have long recognized pest populations as common property resources, and, as such, pest control through chemical pesticide application involves a tradeoff between increased crop yields and reduced environmental quality (Carlson; Regev et al.). Integrated pest management (IPM) attempts to minimize this tradeoff by substituting pest information and management skills for chemical pesticides. In part, IPM involves monitoring pest populations in order to utilize beneficial biological interactions. Weather patterns, stage of crop growth, and natural biological enemies of pests are among the factors included in IPM. In addition, entomologists have extended the integrated control concept to include selective rather than nonselective pesticide application that is applied only when pest populations exceed the “economic threshold” level (Hall and Norgaard). In an earlier economic analysis of IPM, Hall concluded that the major advantages of IPM are: (1) a substantial reduction in overall pesticide use, (2) no significant reduction in profits, (3) no significant loss of yields, (4) an overall reduction in pest management costs, and (5) a reduction in risk for the producers.