Therefore, current farming systems aim to prevent the occurrence of such pests and diseases, resulting in a desert like landscape, where only those organisms are allowed to exist, which do not cause harm to the crop.
Thereby the general principle of Integrated Pest Management (IPM) should guide the actions taken on a farm. The principles consist out of 8 very basic requirements, which any farmer should follow.
1. Prevention and suppression of diseases and pests
2. Monitoring the occurrence of diseases and pests
3. Decision making, whether a treatment is necessary,
based on economical thresholds
4. Non chemical methods should be used first to combat diseases and pests
5. Pesticides selection; pesticides used shall be as specific as possible
6. Pesticide reduction to a minimum level
7. Ant resistance strategies shall be applied
8. Evaluation of the success of the applied measures
Unfortunately, these principals are hardly applied and pest management follows more than ever a schedule focused on general pest occurrences in the past and time bound applications.
Besides the IPM approach, farmers can focus on the strengthening of beneficial organism on the field. Especially by creating habitats for insects, birds and mammals, the farmer can reduce the occurrence pests dramatically and hence can reduce the chemical inputs needed.