The new IPM experts

The farmer training approach discussed here is FFS. The field schools run in the Chinese case study examined here involved some 25 farmers who met each week. Training took place in the farmers' own rice fields. In this supportive learning environment, local ecology and practices were discussed and the farmers' perceptions of their farm agro-ecosystems were developed further. This process of observation is known as agro-ecosystem analysis. The outcome of the farmers' weekly agro-ecosystem analysis became the basis of such decision-making as whether or not to continue relying on spiders and parasitic wasps to control rice pests.