Biological control buffet in America's salad bowl

Developing an organic production system for high value crops like cool-season vegetables and strawberries that relies on beneficial insects to control insect pests is a complex and dynamic challenge.  This involves integrating practices like cover cropping and intercropping, and planting hedgerows with perennial species that together can contribute to an effective conservation biological control program.   However, it is difficult to implement this in regions like the central coast of California where much of the farm land is rented at extremely high prices, and where non-crop vegetation on farms is increasingly raising concerns about food safety.  Using a series of short videos, this interactive presentation will (1) highlight some evolving and novel practices that are used to biologically control insect pests, (2) share on-going research to optimize these practices, and (3) discuss how these practices can complicate other aspects of the farming.