Integrated Pest, Disease & Weed Management

Pests, diseases, and weeds have challenged farmers for as long as crops have been grown, but the tools and thinking used to manage them have shifted dramatically. Rather than reaching first for chemical control, integrated management combines biological, cultural, mechanical, and chemical tactics into a coordinated strategy that keeps threats below damaging levels while protecting beneficial organisms, human health, and the wider environment. The Integrated Pest, Disease & Weed Management session brings these complementary approaches together, exploring how monitoring, thresholds, and prevention can reduce dependence on pesticides without sacrificing yield or quality. It also addresses the mounting pressures of resistance, regulatory change, and consumer expectations that make smarter, more diversified control increasingly urgent.

How can a grower tell when intervention is genuinely warranted rather than reflexive? Which combinations of tactics actually disrupt a pest's life cycle most effectively? These judgement-based questions sit at the centre of the discussions, which weave together entomology, plant pathology, weed science, and practical decision-making. Those attending this Agriculture Conference will examine how integrated crop protection can be designed around scouting, beneficial organisms, resistant varieties, and well-timed action. The programme spans early detection technologies, biological control agents, cultural practices, and resistance management, all framed within an ecological understanding of the farm. By emphasising prevention and balance over routine spraying, the session helps researchers and practitioners build durable, lower-risk protection systems.