Integrated pest management (IPM)

A pest control strategy based on the determination of an economic threshold that indicates when a pest population is approaching the level at which control measures are necessary to prevent a decline in net returns. In principle, IPM is an ecologically based strategy that relies on natural mortality factors, such as natural enemies, weather, and crop management, and seeks control tactics that disrupt these factors as little as possible. Also, a USDA/Environmental Protection Agency program that aims to decrease pesticide applications by teaching farmers to use a variety of alternative control techniques to minimize pesticide use. These techniques include biological controls, genetic resistance, tillage, pruning, and others.