In their comprehensive paper, Montague Yudelman, Annu Ratta, and Davi Nygaard examine the key issues with regard to pest management and food production over the coming decades. They draw attention to the lack of adequate information on the magnitude and impact of pest losses; without such information, policymarkers are handicapped when devising strategies for meeting food needs. The authors address both chemical and nonchemical approaches to pest management, highlighting the importance of biotechnology. There is growing public sentiment against biotechnology but little appreciation as yet of its contributions to alleviating hunger by, among other things, controlling pest losses. The authors also address the important subject of the roles of different actors in pest management, most notably the private sector.

Widespread use of broad-spectrum chemical pesticides has revolutionized pest management. But there is growing concern about environmental contamination and human health risksâ€"and continuing frustration over the ability of pests to develop resistance to pesticides. In Ecologically Based Pest Management, an expert committee advocates the sweeping adoption of ecologically based pest management (EBPM) that promotes both agricultural productivity and a balanced ecosystem. This volume offers a vision and strategies for creating a solid, comprehensive knowledge base to support a pest management system that incorporates ecosystem processes supplemented by a continuum of inputsâ€"biological organisms, products, cultivars, and cultural controls. The result will be safe, profitable, and durable pest management strategies. The book evaluates the feasibility of EBPM and examines how best to move beyond optimal examples into the mainstream of agriculture. The committee stresses the need for information, identifies research priorities in the biological as well as socioeconomic realm, and suggests institutional structures for a multidisciplinary research effort. Ecologically Based Pest Management addresses risk assessment, risk management, and public oversight of EBPM. The volume also overviews the history of pest managementâ€"from the use of sulfur compounds in 1000 B.C. to the emergence of transgenic technology. Ecologically Based Pest Management will be vitally important to the agrichemical industry; policymakers, regulators, and scientists in agriculture and forestry; biologists, researchers, and environmental advocates; and interested growers.