Pesticides and integrated pest management practice, practicality and policy in Australia

Abstract

Policy settings influence how farmers manage pests. To successfully grow and market a crop an individual farmer has to engage in pest management. Their management strategy is subject to the relevant domestic policies. These policies are in turn shaped by international agreements concerning maximum residue levels for pesticides and the sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) agreements on trade. Policies are designed to solicit a response by using incentives and penalties to achieve a set of social objectives. These policies create signals to which the wider domestic settings and international economies respond. Consequently the ultimate outcome from these signals may be counter to the initial design (or intention) of the policy. This chapter outlines some of the economic underpinnings required for good pest management policy and it explores why farmers respond to the same pest problem differently. The discussion will examine the national drivers behind pest management in Australia and discuss the implications for both on-farm pest management and the wider community. To enable this discussion the economics of integrated pest management is presented to articulate individual responses to a policy setting. Finally we examine the policies required to create successful area- wide management systems in rural Australia.