The following descriptions and links to IPM elements have been provided by Dr. Tom Green and the IPM Institute of North America, Inc. We are indebted to their efforts and unselfish sharing of IPM philosophy and information. A complete description of elements, guidelines and protocols for their development can be found in Guide to IPM Elements and Guidelines written by Dr. Green and Dr. Curt Petzoldt of Cornell University.

IPM Elements and Guidelines are concise lists of IPM and related practices.  These are crop and region-specific, and very efficient resources for determining which practices are recommended by land-grant university scientists for your crop. 

These lists are typically created by a broad stakeholder group including Extension, growers, crop advisors and others.  They often include both IPM and other Best Management Practices that can impact pest management and conservation, including water, soil and nutrient management.

Uses for these tools include:

By growers

• to identify additional IPM and other conservation practices appropriate for their crop and region
• as self-assessment tools to measure how many of the available practices are in use on a specific farm or field
• to document the extent of IPM adoption to buyers or for NRCS incentive programs

By researchers

• to measure IPM practice adoption over time or across programs or regions
• to help identify which practices have low adoption and thus may need work to improve useability or benefits for growers

By buyers

• to assess supplier performance

By NRCS and other conservation programs

• to qualify producers for incentive and technical assistance programs

The number of up-to-date Elements/Guidelines are currently limited, but growing in number.  If you would like to find out more about developing Elements or Guidelines for your use, contact the IPM Institute and they will do their best to work with the Regional IPM Centers, USDA, EPA and other sponsers to help you put the resources and experts together to get the job done.