Integrated Pest Management Approaches to Manage Arthropod Pests in Specialty Cropping Systems

Insect pests increasingly threaten specialty crop production worldwide, jeopardizing yield, quality, profitability, and sustainability. Specialty crops are defined by USDA as high-value horticultural commodities including fruits, vegetables, tree nuts, ornamentals, and nursery crops, differ from broad-acre field crops in their smaller acreage, higher market value, and diverse production systems. These crops are often grown at high density or under protected environments, with low pest-injury tolerance and limited registered pesticide options. Additionally, climate change, global trade, and continuous production, intensify pest pressure and resistance risks. Because the economic and ecological dynamics of specialty crops differ from those of field crops, their pest management demands system-specific solutions. Integrated Pest Management offers a holistic framework by combining ecological understanding, practical tools, and cross-disciplinary innovation. Advances in pest ecology, plant-insect interactions, and cross-sector collaborations to develop resilient, broadly adaptable and sustainable strategies tailored to the unique vulnerabilities and management challenges of specialty crops.

This Research Topic will highlight forward-looking advances in the managing insect pest pressures tailored to the biological and economic realities of in specialty crops. While foundational IPM principles apply broadly, specialty crop systems often demand distinct strategies due to their smaller acreage, higher crop value, stringent quality standards, and regulatory or market constraints on pesticide use. The objective is to showcase original research, perspectives, and case studies that can deepen our understanding of pest population dynamics, outbreak drivers, and resistance development leading to IPM solutions. Interdisciplinary approaches and pest management approaches that bridge fundamental biology, ecology, modelling, and technology with practical field applications are particularly encouraged.

By bringing together contributions from across research, extension and industry, this Research Topic will not only capture the current state of knowledge but also highlight practical and innovative directions for the future. The collection aims to highlight progress in global IPM for specialty crops, strengthen collaboration across disciplines, and ensure that strategies transition from discovery to application. Ultimately, our goal is to provide insights with actionable follow-up that help growers, researchers, and decision-makers build resilient specialty crop systems capable of withstanding the growing pressures of insect pests, including climate- and resistance-driven challenges.

In this Research Topic, we welcome studies on the following subtopics, but not limited to:
• Biology, ecology, and behavior of invasive species in specialty crops and their management under different production systems
• Pest population dynamics, outbreak forecasting, and climate-driven shifts
• Resistance development, monitoring, and management strategies
• Novel and sustainable control strategies (biological, cultural, physical, chemical, or combined)
• Interdisciplinary and systems-level approaches that link ecology, biology, technology, economics, and/ or policy pertinent to arthropod pest management.
• Extension and adoption studies that evaluate grower engagement, barriers, and incentives to specific pest management strategies in specialty crops.
• Case studies that highlight successes, challenges, and lessons learned in specialty crop IPM implementation.

Article types and fees

This Research Topic accepts the following article types, unless otherwise specified in the Research Topic description:

• Brief Research Report
• Data Report
• Editorial
• FAIR² Data
• General Commentary
• Hypothesis and Theory
• Methods
• Mini Review
• Opinion
• ... View all formats

Articles that are accepted for publication by our external editors following rigorous peer review incur a publishing fee charged to Authors, institutions, or funders.

Article types

This Research Topic accepts the following article types, unless otherwise specified in the Research Topic description:

• Brief Research Report
• Data Report
• Editorial
• FAIR² Data
• General Commentary
• Hypothesis and Theory
• Methods
• Mini Review
• Opinion
• Original Research
• Perspective
• Policy and Practice Reviews
• Policy Brief
• Review
• Systematic Review
• Technology and Code

Keywords: Invasive Species, Arthropod pests, Biological control, Crop protection, Integrated pest management, New associations, Pest population dynamics, Resistance management, Rotational pesticide programs, Specialty crops, Sustainable agriculture and Thresholds.

Important note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.