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Sustainability
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Innovating Practice and Policy for Sustainable Pest Management
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Innovating Practice and Policy for Sustainable Pest Management

A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (26 March 2023) | Viewed by 11806

Special Issue Editors

Prof. David Ervin

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Departments of Economics and Environmental Science and Management, Portland State University, Portland, OR 97207-0751, USA
Interests: sustainability of genetically engineered crops; pest resistance management; ecosystem service valuation; business sustainability motivations
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Dr. Sonia Graham

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
School of Geography and Sustainable Communities, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, NSW 2522, Australia
Interests: collective action; environmental justice; community-led weed management
Dr. David R. Shaw

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Provost and Executive Vice President, Mississippi State University, Mississippi State, MS 39762, USA
Interests: herbicide resistance; wicked problems; community-based solutions development
Dr. George Frisvold

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Agricultural & Resource Economics, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721, USA
Interests: environmental and resource economics; regulation and use of biotechnology; integrated pest management
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Many species have evolved resistance to pesticides, herbicides, fungicides, and antibiotics. Weed, insect, plant pathogen, and antibiotic resistance is escalating around the world despite valiant public and private efforts to stem the advance. Left unchecked, these trends threaten widespread ecological, social and economic damage, especially in agriculture. Current approaches to manage pest resistance rely heavily on finding new technologies to replace those that have become ineffective. Yet, science and experience tell us that all new technologies are susceptible to resistance if not managed properly. The root causes of resistance arise from a combination of ecological, socio-economic, technological and human behavior factors. Befitting such a complex set of interactions, pest resistance is a “wicked problem” that requires transdisciplinary approaches under the convergence paradigm with deep integration across natural and social science disciplines and with non-academic experts.  

Innovating more sustainable approaches to manage pest resistance poses a critical scientific challenge of forging new research collaborations that fully engage stakeholders from industry, government and civil society from the outset. This special issue reports scientific and policy advances that hold significant potential to develop such innovations. The articles may address one or more of the following questions:

  1. Under what socio-ecological conditions can uncoordinated individual decisions achieve sustainable management of pest resistance?
  2. Under what socio-ecological conditions are collective, community-based approaches necessary to sustain effective pest resistance management under common pool resource conditions?
  3. What are the key impediments/barriers and enabling conditions to instituting collective-community-based approaches to pest resistance management?
    • How do social and ecological systems interact to generate constructive enabling conditions or subdue the impediments/barriers?
  4. What are the primary social behaviors that foster unsustainable pest resistance management?
  5. What local, state and federal policies constrain or enable effective pest resistance management regimes that are tailored to local/regional socio-ecological conditions?
  6. What lessons from sustainable pest management regimes can help incubate new successful efforts in other areas and regions beset by resistance epidemics?
  7. How do different decisions in social systems of resistance management generate, and in turn become formed by, biological conditions of pests in the local environment?
  8. How do management strategies for multiple vectors of resistance, such as weeds, insects, and viruses, interact to the detriment or support of one another?
    • How can multiple vectors of resistance be managed holistically through integration of social and ecological knowledge systems?

This Special Issue seeks to collect papers aimed at developing and evaluating policy options to address resistance problems in agriculture. This includes empirical studies of past policy successes (or failures) as well as prescriptive articles, making the case for innovative policies. Papers that take a synthetic approach, for example considering insecticide, herbicide and antibiotic resistance as an overarching problem, are of interest. Also welcome are analyses of the role of non-chemical pest control options, and policies to promote them.


Prof. David Ervin
Dr. Sonia Graham
Dr. David R. Shaw
Dr. George Frisvold
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Sustainability is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • herbicide resistance
  • insecticide resistance
  • plant pathogen resistance
  • sustainable
  • transdisciplinary
  • convergence
  • socio-ecological
  • policy options
  • collective action
  • community-based
  • stakeholder engagement
  • experiential knowledge

Published Papers (5 papers)

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Research

18 pages, 773 KiB  
Article
Opportunities for Improving Herbicide Resistance Management Strategies across New Zealand’s Arable Sector
by Martin Espig, Suzanne Vallance and Roxanne Henwood
Sustainability 2023, 15(11), 9119; https://doi.org/10.3390/su15119119 - 05 Jun 2023
Viewed by 1010
Abstract
Herbicide resistance is increasingly recognised as a challenge for agricultural producers worldwide. International scholarship and practical experiences suggest that collective efforts by diverse agricultural stakeholders are crucial for effective resistance management. In New Zealand, such sector-wide initiatives and strategies remain fragmented, partly due [...] Read more.
Herbicide resistance is increasingly recognised as a challenge for agricultural producers worldwide. International scholarship and practical experiences suggest that collective efforts by diverse agricultural stakeholders are crucial for effective resistance management. In New Zealand, such sector-wide initiatives and strategies remain fragmented, partly due to a lack of state coordination and national extension services. This article synthesises insights from three complementary social research methods involving actors across the country’s arable-crop-growing sector (focus groups, semi-structured interviews, and an industry workshop) to identify pathways to foster collaboration and more strategic resistance management. The presented findings detail challenges, opportunities, and potential actions across four domains: strengths and weaknesses of New Zealand’s farming context, better information and knowledge exchange, improved collaboration and coordination, and targeted education and training. Our analysis highlights that most opportunities described within these domains involve purposely strengthening existing, or forming new, social and institutional relationships as part of establishing resistance management as a shared sector responsibility. A portfolio of multipronged initiatives and programmes is then required for effective whole-industry strategies. We discuss potential next steps to collectively realise identified opportunities, from more immediately feasible steps to long-term activities. These insights conceptually contribute to the international scholarship on herbicide resistance by reinforcing the notion that industry leadership and meaningful farmer involvement are indispensable for more collaborative approaches aimed at strategically managing resistance. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Innovating Practice and Policy for Sustainable Pest Management)
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17 pages, 287 KiB  
Article
Herbicide-Resistance in Turf Systems: Insights and Options for Managing Complexity
by Jennifer H. Allen, David E. Ervin, George B. Frisvold, James T. Brosnan, James D. McCurdy, Rebecca G. Bowling, Aaron J. Patton, Matthew T. Elmore, Travis W. Gannon, Lambert B. McCarty, Patrick E. McCullough, John E. Kaminski, Shawn D. Askew, Alec R. Kowalewski, J. Bryan Unruh, J. Scott McElroy and Muthukumar V. Bagavathiannan
Sustainability 2022, 14(20), 13399; https://doi.org/10.3390/su142013399 - 18 Oct 2022
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 2382
Abstract
Due to complex interactions between social and ecological systems, herbicide resistance has classic features of a “wicked problem”. Herbicide-resistant (HR) Poa annua poses a risk to sustainably managing U.S. turfgrass systems, but there is scant knowledge to guide its management. Six focus groups [...] Read more.
Due to complex interactions between social and ecological systems, herbicide resistance has classic features of a “wicked problem”. Herbicide-resistant (HR) Poa annua poses a risk to sustainably managing U.S. turfgrass systems, but there is scant knowledge to guide its management. Six focus groups were conducted throughout the United States to gain understanding of socio-economic barriers to adopting herbicide-resistance management practices. Professionals from major turfgrass sectors (golf courses, sports fields, lawn care, and seed/sod production) were recruited as focus-group participants. Discussions emphasized challenges of the weed management of turfgrass systems as compared to agronomic crops. This included greater time constraints for managing weeds and more limited chemical control options. Lack of understanding about the proper use of compounds with different modes of action was identified as a threat to sustainable weed management. There were significant regional differences in perceptions of the existence, geographic scope, and social and ecological causes of HR in managing Poa annua. Effective resistance management will require tailoring chemical and non-chemical practices to the specific conditions of different turfgrass sectors and regions. Some participants thought it would be helpful to have multi-year resistance management programs that are both sector- and species-specific. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Innovating Practice and Policy for Sustainable Pest Management)
16 pages, 630 KiB  
Article
Opportunities to Manage Herbicide Resistance through Area-Wide Management: Lessons from Australian Cropping Regions
by Kaitlyn Height, Sonia Graham, Rebecca Campbell, Gina Hawkes, Silja Schrader, Louise Blessington and Scott McKinnon
Sustainability 2022, 14(3), 1793; https://doi.org/10.3390/su14031793 - 04 Feb 2022
Cited by 7 | Viewed by 1927
Abstract
Herbicide resistance management is often understood as a decision for individual land managers, but their decisions have far-reaching impacts for social-ecological systems. Area-wide management can reduce these impacts by supporting many land managers to cooperatively work towards a shared goal of reducing the [...] Read more.
Herbicide resistance management is often understood as a decision for individual land managers, but their decisions have far-reaching impacts for social-ecological systems. Area-wide management can reduce these impacts by supporting many land managers to cooperatively work towards a shared goal of reducing the spread of resistance. The aim of this research is to identify what support is needed for area-wide herbicide resistance management in cropping systems. Data was collected from 84 interviews with growers, public land managers and weed management advisors. Sixty-five interviews were conducted across three cropping regions of eastern Australia—Darling Downs (Queensland), Riverina (New South Wales) and Sunraysia (Victoria)—and 19 interviews were conducted with stakeholders beyond these regions. The majority (51%) of interviewees expressed concern about the spread of herbicide resistance, but only 14% described involvement in area-wide resistance management programs. Area-wide management was mostly reported to involve sharing information among stakeholders, rather than coordination or joint activities. Key barriers to participation were perceived to be the diverse agricultural industries in each region and the costs of participation. Future area-wide management program designs need to build working relationships among diverse stakeholders, clearly define the boundaries of the program and demonstrate the benefits that accrue from participation. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Innovating Practice and Policy for Sustainable Pest Management)
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14 pages, 3729 KiB  
Article
Non-Chemical Control of Annual Bluegrass (Poa annua) in Bermudagrass (Cynodon spp.) via Fraise Mowing: Efficacy and Barriers to Adoption
by Devon E. Carroll, James T. Brosnan, J. Bryan Unruh, Carrie A. Stephens, Chase McKeithen and Pablo A. Boeri
Sustainability 2021, 13(15), 8124; https://doi.org/10.3390/su13158124 - 21 Jul 2021
Cited by 5 | Viewed by 3587
Abstract
Fraise mowing is a maintenance practice that may serve as a non-chemical means of controlling the problematic weed annual bluegrass (Poa annua L.) in bermudagrass (Cynodon spp.) given reports of efficacy on other turfgrass species. However, an understanding of practitioner decision-making [...] Read more.
Fraise mowing is a maintenance practice that may serve as a non-chemical means of controlling the problematic weed annual bluegrass (Poa annua L.) in bermudagrass (Cynodon spp.) given reports of efficacy on other turfgrass species. However, an understanding of practitioner decision-making in implementing fraise mowing as a weed-control measure remains unknown. A field study was conducted in Knoxville, TN and repeated in space in Jay, FL during summer 2019 to assess bermudagrass regrowth and subsequent annual bluegrass control, following fraise mowing at depths of 1.5 and 3.0 cm compared to a non-treated check (0 cm). Bermudagrass recovered more quickly at the 1.5 cm depth than the 3.0 cm depth and was the swiftest in Florida. Fraise mowing at either depth resulted in a 41–97% reduction in annual bluegrass populations. A qualitative study was conducted in spring 2021, which engaged eight turfgrass managers from Tennessee and Florida via individual interviews in order to understand barriers and challenges to fraise mowing application. Turfgrass managers had positive views of fraise mowing but described challenges in implementation for weed control including cost, labor, area closure, and debris removal. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Innovating Practice and Policy for Sustainable Pest Management)
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18 pages, 540 KiB  
Article
Herbicide Resistance, Tillage, and Community Management in the Pacific Northwest
by Katherine Dentzman and Ian Cristofer Burke
Sustainability 2021, 13(4), 1937; https://doi.org/10.3390/su13041937 - 11 Feb 2021
Cited by 8 | Viewed by 1816
Abstract
The use of glyphosate as a replacement for tillage has been credited with spurring the adoption of conservation tillage in the United States. With herbicide-resistant weeds becoming a significant agronomic problem, however, it is unclear whether conservation tillage gains are in danger of [...] Read more.
The use of glyphosate as a replacement for tillage has been credited with spurring the adoption of conservation tillage in the United States. With herbicide-resistant weeds becoming a significant agronomic problem, however, it is unclear whether conservation tillage gains are in danger of being reversed as farmers turn to tillage to manage weeds that herbicides can no longer kill. Using 2015 focus groups, a 2016 national survey, and an ongoing Community Herbicide Resistance Management Initiative in four communities of the Pacific Northwest we assess the following questions: (1) How do U.S. farmers view tillage as an option for controlling herbicide-resistant weeds, (2) Do attitudes towards and experience with herbicide-resistant increase farmers’ usage of tillage, and (3) Can community management provide an avenue for maintaining conservation tillage while also increasing effective management of herbicide-resistant weeds? We find that many farmers consider tillage to be an emergency fail-safe in managing weeds, that there is a complex relationship between herbicide resistance awareness, concern, and tillage use that can be partly explained by experience and dedication to conservation tillage, and finally that community management has the potential to provide the support and resources necessary to prevent a large-scale increase in tillage related to herbicide resistance management. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Innovating Practice and Policy for Sustainable Pest Management)
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