About Community IPM

Community and School IPM home
MN Health, Environmental, and Pesticide Safety home

stone bullet In the past IPM's major focus had been the growing of food crops. In recent years there has been a growing interest in developing IPM approaches for building and landscape pests in homes, schools, industries, businesses, parks, and many other community and public places. Such Urban or Community IPM  programs can be found in cities, suburbs, and towns -  whether they be large, small or located in rural areas. 

IPM is a way of thinking about a systems approach to pest management decision making. An IPM program integrates health, safety, environmental, economic, aesthetic and other considerations with a deep understanding of the pest's life cycle and biology and human-pest interaction. Typically, IPM programs use a combination of a wide range of pest management strategies to avoid pests problems - of which pesticides are usually the last choice. 

IPM pest management strategies may include: 

  • Exclusion
  • Procedural (in use of the facility)  or cultural (in management of the landscape)
  • Legal
  • Sanitation 
  • Habitat modification
  • Structural and landscape design
  • Biological
  • Mechanical
  • Chemical (baits, attractants, pesticides, etc.)
Compared to traditional pest control IPM programs: 
  • Need greater technical expertise 
  • Utilize a comprehensive pest management strategic plan 
  • Emphasize prevention and avoidance rather than therapeutic control strategies 
  • Emphasize pest scouting and inspection rather than routine pesticide applications
  • Require recording keeping, reporting, and communication between pest managers, clients or users of the facility, facility management and administration, and the public 
  • Have on-going IPM program evaluation 

Home Page URL: http://www.extension.umn.edu/pesticides/ipm/ipmabout.htm
This page was last updated July 20, 1998. Direct questions or comments to deanh@tc.umn.edu.
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