Agronomic, economic, and environmental comparison of pest management in conventional and alternative tomato and corn systems in northern California

The effectiveness, economic efficiency, and environmental impact of pest management practices was compared in conventional, low-input, and organic processing tomato and field corn systems in northern California. Pests, including arthropods, weeds, pathogens, and nematodes, were monitored over an 8-year period. Although both crops responded agronomically to the production-system treatments, arthropods, pathogens, and nematodes were found to play a relatively small role in influencing yields. In contrast, weed abundance was negatively correlated with tomato and corn yields and appeared to partially account for lower yields in the alternative systems compared to the conventional systems. Lower pesticide use in the organic and low-input systems resulted in considerably less potential environmental impact but the economic feasibility of reducing pesticide use differed dramatically between the two crops. The performances of the organic and low-input systems indicate that pesticide use could be reduced by 50% or more in corn with little or no yield reduction. Furthermore, the substitution of mechanical cultivation for herbicide applications in corn could reduce pest management costs. By contrast, pesticide reductions in tomato would be economically costly due to the dependence on hand hoeing as a substitution for herbicides. Based on the performance of the low-input and organic tomato systems, a 50% pesticide reduction would increase average pest management costs by 50%.