With the practice of biological pest control in agriculture, you can expect safer (and healthier) ways to keep pest populations in control. You can also imitate its practice for your gardening activity, hoping to gain better and greater income without having to endanger Mother Earth even further. What is the concept and how can you do it?
Biological Pest Control Concept
Unlike chemical pest control that uses chemical products to deal with the pests, biological (pest) control is the usage of living organisms or natural bio elements to suppress pests population. As a result, the pests are no longer damaging and the crops would be safer to consume.
The greatest thing about biological pest control in agriculture is that you can use it for different pests types, including plant pathogens, weeds, vertebrates, and insects. Keep in mind, though, that the control agents and methods depend on the pest types. But rest assured that they are completely safe, healthy, and environmentally ethical.
Pest Concept
Pests are species attacking the resources that humans try to protect. ‘Successful’ pests can be a huge annoyance or they can affect the economical aspect of the produce. These pests are actually coming in a small percentage and portion. They mostly ‘do’ occasional damage and disturbance, but their damage can be significant to our resources.
It’s a good thing that pests have their own natural enemies. You can make use of their existence to get rid of the pesky pests. With pesticides and chemical products, you basically hurt the environment. Not only do you poison the crops, but you actually kill those helpful enemies of the pests. But when you use their natural enemies and predators, you don’t have to worry about hurting your environment.
The Advantages
Naturally, there are some obvious advantages of practicing biological pest control in agriculture.
You can reduce the negative impact on humans (and their health). When you use chemical pesticides, you may be able to kill the pests immediately, but you expose the field workers and farmers to the dangerous residue.
Bio control has a very low, or even none, toxicity level. You basically protect yourself as well as other people with this method. Not to mention that this method allows short pre-harvest intervals. In most cases, it has no interval or whatsoever. Pre-harvest intervals refer to the period when the application of pest control must stop before the harvest process can start. With chemical substances, you will have to wait long because you need to allow the substance to disperse. But with bio control, you only have to wait for a short time.
This system has very minimal eco impact. This is an eco-friendly method that won’t put the human consumers in harm's way. With chemical substances, they will affect the environment. They can run off to the water or seep into the land and soil. Not only will they harm nature's delicate balance, but they can actually kill the useful organism.
Bio control can slow down the resistance ability of the pests. Not many people know about this. The bad thing about chemical stuff is that pests may develop the ability to resist it. They can be used to
the (chemical) products so these products would no longer be useful. With natural bio control, however, such a thing won’t happen. For instance, you can use (natural) oil or fungi to repel the pests. The fungi can grow within the pests, suffocating them from within, while the oil can smother or even confuse them.
Final Words
If you want to fight off pests without harming the harvest, you can try the bio control system. It may take a while, but you can enjoy a more fruitful and safer outcome. The biological pest control in agriculture is done to help you deal with pesky pests in the safest manner possible.