The goal of management at Larriland Farm is to provide you with the highest quality and 
safest produce possible. To accomplish this goal, we make use of Integrated Pest Management, IPM, and Best Management Practices, BMP. We monitor crops for insects and diseases. We use disease resistant crop varieties, cultural controls, sanitation controls and then, only as a last resort, pesticides are used. These practices result in the high quality produce that has come to be associated with Larriland Farm.
Integrated Pest Management, IPM, means using many tactics to keep pests below an acceptable level with minimum harmful impact on the environment. IPM protects public health and the environment by limiting pesticide use. It reduces production costs, while maintaining high quality produce, and protects the soil and water by reducing fertilizer and pesticide use.
Crops are monitored for harmful diseases and insects and for beneficial insects. Threshold levels have been determined by scientists at Land Grant Universities. Once the threshold has been reached, the grower determines what action should be taken to protect the crop.
IPM Practices
- disease and pest resistant crop varieties that are either resist or tolerate key pests while yielding high quality produce with less pesticide use.
- cultural practices that decrease pest populations. Cultural controls include: crop rotation, managing water and fertilizer correctly, and turning under crop residues to destroy diseases and organisms such as fungi and bacteria and the eggs of insect pests and slugs.
- sanitation to remove crop residues that may contain diseases and other pest problems. Using clean seed, transplants, and equipment minimizes problems.
- biological controls, such as beneficial insects, that are natural enemies of the pests.
- IPM uses pesticides when all other methods have been exhausted. At this point, pesticides are applied using the lowest rate of the safest and most effective chemical labeled for the crop. Several chemicals with different modes of action are used to minimize the development of resistance. The timing of these pesticide applications is critical for effective control.
Best Management Practices
BMP conserve soil and water on the farm. We use the following practices:
- field strips: alternating field strips of annual and permanent crops to stabilize hillsides.
- conservation tillage: reduced or minimum tillage to reduce disturbance of the soil which reduces erosion. The no-till method plants directly into the stubble of the previous crop, frequently a cover crop.
- waterways and diversion terraces: engineered areas on the farm that are permanently planted in grass which control water movement and minimize erosion.
- cover crops: crops such as grains and legumes that stabilize the soil during non cropping periods. They also scavenge residual fertilizer and increase soil health.
- proper timing of fertilizer applications maximizes uptake and decreases runoff.