The Drought Monitor shows thing essentially unchanged from the previous week. This doesn’t include any moisture received after last Tuesday. The 30-day forecast from the Climate Prediction Center, released Jan. 16, calls for a fairly good chance of below normal temperatures for most of Kansas and equal chances of above or below normal precipitation. The three-month outlook predicts a decent chance of above normal temperatures here and equal chances of above or below normal precipitation. This is good news for getting summer crops planted. Last week briefly discussed the history of the use and misuse of pesticides, our mistakes with technologies such as Roundup Ready ® crops, and successes such as Bt technology and corn borer control. Today, where do we go from here? Can we move forward in a manner that is effective and environmentally sound?

• First, it would be arrogant to think we will ever win the “war” against pests whether weeds, diseases, or insects. We learn, adapt, and change and so do they. To be successful and minimize the damage, producers must change the way they think and approach. This is why Integrated Pest Management is critical. We must use a variety of techniques to minimize problems from cultural practices, sanitation, and biological control to pesticides. We must quit fighting the environment and ecology and learn to work within it and use it to our advantage.

• Second, at all levels of government there must be a commitment of resources and research invested to develop these holistic approaches. Producers will need assistance both in terms of money and education to develop these integrated approaches that will allow them to be sustainable economically and ecologically. This also means public-private partnerships to develop strategies, new genetic engineering products, and new chemistries.   

• As new chemistries for pest control are developed, it will be vital that they be affordable and that producers are well-educated in their use to avoid the mistakes of the past. We are getting better in terms of protecting the environment and developing protocols for producers to minimize the chances for resistance developing.

• The public should be prepared to accept higher food prices as part of an economically and environmentally sound food, fiber, and fuel production system. Producers currently only receive a small fraction of the dollars consumers spend on food,

• Finally, there will be setbacks but they can be minimized by a thoughtful approach that takes the time to fully evaluate new technologies, especially in the area of trying to determine the unexpected consequences of what we are developing. And we must carefully examine our pest control strategies and plan with climate change in mind. We are already seeing the effects of climate change on pest pressure and it is a challenge to try and determine the effects of a changing climate on pest pressure.

Dr. Victor L. Martin is the agriculture instructor/coordinator for Barton Community College. He can be reached at 620-792-9207, ext. 207.