DESIGNING AN OPTIMIZATION MODEL TO HANDLE INTEGRATED PEST MANAGEMENT IN SOYBEANS

Pest management in soybean fields holds the highest priority after sowing. Many soybean growers apply chemical pesticides to control pests at low infestation levels, which is a reliable choice to prevent widespread damage. Bio-pesticides are also included in integrated pest management practices as they are more environmentally friendly and do not pose unreasonable risks to human health and the environment. Besides pesticides in general, our study explores the incidence of natural control agents, as several predators are known to attack soybean caterpillars. We propose a novel optimization model to handle the dynamics of pest management in soybean fields and integrate the use of pesticides with natural predators. Results indicate that introducing natural predators is the best economic option until their cost per unit reaches 4.03 times the cost of spraying pesticides.