The struggle of pear growers to against pear pests in the Wenatchee Valley is acute. Facing narrow financial returns, profitability of the industry is threatened both by failure to prevent pest damage and costs of ballooning pesticide usage. Usually considered the most important pest in the region, pear psylla reliably outbreaks due to disruption of biological control by intense chemical use. Since the 1980s, efforts have been made to develop “soft” pesticide programs that conserve biological control agents of pear psylla and pest mites while suitably reducing codling moth injury. Despite evidence from California, Oregon, and British Columbia on the effectiveness of this integrated approach against pear pests, Wenatchee growers have not widely adopted it. Projects during 1999–2003 tested soft pesticide programs on commercial pear farms in Wenatchee, but did not lead to lasting change and were not followed up on at the university until 2017. The current work, initiated in 2022, includes weekly pear psylla and mites monitoring in pairs of orchards following current IPM guidelines vs. standard management, a weekly e- mail with the data and decision-support information built around a phenology model, and interviews with orchard managers. In this project, growers are the experimenters. They chose to try a new type of management and are deciding their course according to their own observations and interpretation of entomological data provided by researchers. The grower-led approach and incorporation of interviews helps the industry and research communities understand each other and the complexities of an integrated pest management program.
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