Biological and Economic Factors Influencing Farmer Acceptance of Pest Management Practices. H. Walker Kirby, Department of Plant Pathology, North Carolina State University, Raleigh 27650. C. E. Main, Department of Plant Pathology, and G. A. Carlson, Department of Economics and Business, North Carolina State University, Raleigh 27650. Plant Dis. 67:1095-1099. Accepted for publication 14 April 1983. Copyright 1983 American Phytopathological Society. DOI: 10.1094/PD-67-1095.

Personal interviews were conducted with a randomly selected group of 84 tobacco farmers in four eastern North Carolina tobacco-producing counties to determine factors influencing adoption of pest management practices. Results of this study indicate that most tobacco farmers apply pesticides routinely instead of using crop scouting or monitoring methods to determine actual need for such pesticides.

Keyword(s): crop rotation, insecticides, IPM, nematicides.