Crop management systems and their effects on biological control of insects

The primary objective of crop management systems is to produce net profit, not merely to manage populations of insects and other pest species through the use of biological control tactics. Yet, biological control of insects and other pest species can play an important role in pest management if crop systems are engineered in ways which allow biological agents to realize their potential without major interferences from other control tactics (pesticides) and other crop production practices (cultivation and irrigation). To achieve this goal, crop system models which incorporate the effects of biological control agents in the context of the crop production system can be constructed and computer simulation can be used to evaluate alternative crop production strategies. Computer simulation offers a means to explore a large number of combinations of biological control agents and predict how they might perform in the crop system environment. Also, simulation models may be used to evaluate the characteristics that biological agents should have to be successful in the crop system environment. Thus, the models might be used to help identify the goals of genetic engineering of biological control agents. The use of two highly technological tools, computer simulation and genetic engineering, could provide new and unique opportunities for biological control experimentation and perhaps allow the agricultural research community to move from classical biocontrol into the new age of biological control. Some of the challenges and obstacles we will face in attempting to incorporate the effects of biocontrol agents into crop system models are identified and discussed. A serious challenge will be to gain a better understanding of how crop management systems effect biological control of insects and other pests.