Insect Pest Control on Potato: Harmonization of Alternative and Conventional Control Methods

The development of insect pest management strategies for potato has long been based on the eventual replacement of insecticides by alternative methods. This paper discusses the importance of moving away from this confrontational approach and toward the harmonization of conventional and alternative insect control concepts. A harmonized set of control methods should speed up progress towards a truly integrated management approach that provides both long and short term crop protection. Changing the paradigm does not resolve all the problems. Constraints to the development and implementation of the different types of control methods are discussed using selected examples. The harmonization concept has been discussed in general terms elsewhere but to the best of my knowledge it is applied here for the first time specifically to potato crop protection.