{"id":12180,"date":"2014-08-22T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2014-08-21T12:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.farmersweekly.co.nz\/employing-the-benefits\/"},"modified":"2014-08-22T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2014-08-21T12:00:00","slug":"employing-the-benefits","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.farmersweekly.co.nz\/news\/employing-the-benefits\/","title":{"rendered":"Employing the benefits"},"content":{"rendered":"Reading Time: <\/span> 2<\/span> minutes<\/span><\/span>

\u201cIt was not costing us any more or any less and when we do use chemicals it\u2019s giving us a better bang for our buck because we have the beneficials helping us.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hurst said using IPM had made him more aware of his pest management practices.<\/p>\n

He now thinks more about the chemicals he uses before
applying them.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe want to optimise returns but not at the detriment of the environment.\u201d<\/p>\n

Using IPM Hurst found crops can tolerate pest burdens such as aphids better than he had previously thought, especially around flowering in late November and December.<\/p>\n

He said as long as the beneficial insects were around it was a matter of giving them time to control the aphids.<\/p>\n

He admitted this could be difficult but it was a matter of having faith in the ability of the beneficial insects to do their job.<\/p>\n

While there had been isolated incidences of barley yellow dwarf virus in his crops this year Hurst viewed this as a positive.<\/p>\n

It showed the beneficial insects were controlling the aphids sufficiently well to ensure the cases were just that \u2013 isolated.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt shows the system is working.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hurst viewed the recent release of new \u201csoft\u201d chemicals on to the market as being very promising
for IPM.<\/p>\n

\n

\u2018It [integrated pest management] was not costing us any more or any less and when we do use chemicals it\u2019s giving us a better bang for our buck because we have the beneficials helping us.\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

These were easier on beneficial insects \u2013 and unlike many new chemicals \u2013 they were not expensive.<\/p>\n

At the moment Hurst does most of his own the insect monitoring, which was an extension of his crop agronomy. He also got advice from others when needed.<\/p>\n

Hurst said IPM had certainly made him a lot more observant. He was now always on watch for anything out of the ordinary in his crops.<\/p>\n

Fall-back position\u00a0<\/strong><\/h2>\n

While South Canterbury farmer Colin Hurst has learnt to tolerate pest burdens he said he would treat crops with conventional insecticides if insect pests got beyond a certain level.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cSometimes you just have to bite the bullet.\u201d<\/p>\n

Slugs have certainly been a challenge, particularly in the past two seasons where damp conditions have favoured the pest but Hurst had been able to control numbers with IPM-friendly slug baits.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Colin Hurst has been using integrated pest management (IPM) on his arable farm for a number of years after being part of a trial into the management system.\nThe Foundation for Arable Research trial compared IPM with conventional pest control in one paddock on his South Canterbury farm. Hurst said he quickly saw the benefits of IPM.\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":12181,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_FSMCFIC_featured_image_caption":"","_FSMCFIC_featured_image_nocaption":"","_FSMCFIC_featured_image_hide":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t