ABSTRACT
Fleischer and Waibel (Chapter 7) explain that the justification for regional programs aimed at decreasing the rate at which pests adapt to insecticides is uncertain. In their chapter, they mention two extreme, general situations. In the first, there is no need for regional resistance management programs “(a) when perfect information on all parameters of the biological process of resistance development is available [to farmers and others] and (b) when externalities are absent, such as in the case of the spread of resistance from one farm to other economic units.” In the second general situation, these two conditions are not met and resistance in a pest results in a cropping system that becomes unprofitable. In most agricultural systems, little is known about the degree to which the properties of the system match one or more of these extreme characteristics. Without such information, there will always be debate about the utility of resistance management. Even if we had this information, more specific biological, economic, and social factors will determine the justification for a resistance management program.
