Economic Impacts of Extension Integrated Pest Management Programs in Several States

Abstract

Economic benefits of extension integrated pest management (IPM) programs were evaluated for several commodities and several states (Indiana, Virginia, Georgia, New York, North Carolina, Texas, Massachusetts, Mississippi, and the Northwest region including Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana, and Nevada). A budget analysis was used to assess impacts of IPM practices on level and variability of net returns per hectare to farmers. A consumer-producer surplus analysis was conducted to measure aggregate benefits to producers and consumers. Finally, a polychotomous logit model was used to evaluate relative importance of socioeconomic factors that influence IPM adoption and distribution of IPM impacts on producers. Results of these analyses showed higher and less variable returns per hectare for users of IPM compared with nonusers. Moreover, consumers receive positive economic gains. However, level and variance of pesticide cost per hectare increased with increasing levels of IPM use in several states. A typical user of IPM is white, male, with at least some college education, has frequent contact with extension agents, has a relatively large farm, higher than average gross farm income, and a higher than average percent of income from farming.