Knowledge for a sustainable world

Rory Hillocks of NRI recently contributed to two chapters in the series of books 'Integrated Pest Management' co-edited by R. Pershin and D. Pimental. His chapters, written together with Derek Russell and Bill Clark respectively, present case studies highlighting successes and challenges with IPM implementation across the globe.

Integrated Pest Management (IPM) is at the core of the EU's approach to decreasing the use of pesticides. It is an ecosystem approach to crop production and protection that combines different management strategies and practices to grow healthy crops and minimise the use of pesticides.

IPM programmes are used in combination with available control methods to manage pests and diseases economically and sustainably with the least possible hazard to people, property, and the environment.

Volume 3 of the book focuses on problems with conventional pesticide use and how these can be tackled with an IPM approach. Rory's chapter describes IPM in the context of the European 'Sustainable Use Directive' and what is being done in the UK to meet the terms of the Directive for all farms in the EU to apply the principles of IPM to their crop protection interventions.

Rory's chapter on IPM implementation in Uganda appears in Volume 4 of the book and describes the development and validation of an IPM system designed with cotton smallholders in Uganda under the DFID Crop Protection Programme.

Rory, head IPM specialist at the European Centre of Integrated Pest Management (EUCIPM) at NRI has over 30 years of experience and expertise in design and implementation of IPM/sustainable agricultural systems with particular interest in crop protection for organic crops. He says: "These two volumes contain case studies of IPM in practice written by crop protection experts from around the World and we are delighted to have been invited to contribute. Derek Russell our former colleague at NRI is now with the University of Melbourne. Bill Clark is now Commercial Technical Director at the National Institute for Agricultural Botany in Cambridge."


The publications:

Bill Clark & Rory Hillocks (2014). Integrated Pest Management for European Agriculture. In: R. Pershin & D. Pimental (eds), Integrated Pest Management: Vol 3, Pesticide Problems. Springer ISBN: 978-94-007-7795-8.

Rory Hillocks & Derek Russell (2014). Promoting Integrated Pest Management for Cotton Smallholders—The Uganda Experience. In: R. Pershin & D. Pimental (eds), Integrated Pest Management: Vol 4, Experiences with Implementation - Global Overview, Springer, ISBN 978-94-007-7801-6.