Have you ever wondered why the fruit you buy at the store looks and tastes so great? It is after all, grown outdoors where many things can negatively affect the appearance and taste and ultimately, a grower’s bottom line. To protect the precious crop, the consumer and the environment, most Next Big Thing growers practice Integrated Pest Management (IPM).

IPM is an approach to pest management that incorporates the many aspects of plant health and crop protection in ways that mitigate harmful environmental impacts and protect human health. IPM programs use current, comprehensive information on the life cycles of pests and their interaction with the environment. This information, when used with available pest control methods, helps manage pest damage by the most economical means with the least possible hazard to the environment. Next Big Thing (NBT) Cooperative growers believe in responsible land stewardship and regularly practice Integrated Pest Management.

IPM is usually practiced in three stages: prevention, observation and intervention. The end goal is to significantly reduce or eliminate the use of pesticides while at the same time managing pest populations at an acceptable level.

Last year Sagemoor Farms, an NBT member that practices Integrated Pest Management, was experiencing crop damage from birds and insects in their orchards. Either Birds and insects can wipe out an entire apple crop, so their presence must be kept to a minimum.

After identifying what insects were damaging their crop and attracting birds, Sagemoor used insect traps to stop infestation and, as a result, reduced the number of birds in their orchard. This spring, Sagemoor noticed they had a large number of birds in their orchard again, but without the insects from the year before. To intervene, they implemented a bird deterrent: a peregrine falcon which, as a predatory bird, scares medium-sized nuisance birds away from the orchard.

By implementing insect traps and using a falcon as a deterrent, Sagemoor successfully managed the pest-caused damages to their orchard in an environmentally friendly manner. The elimination of chemicals is great not just for consumers but for the entire ecosystem, as well.

Take a look at these great photos of the Falcon at work on Sagemoor Fruit Farm.

Source: www.epa.gov