Integrated Pest Management (IPM) is a cornerstone of Scotland's approach to sustainable crop protection, supporting reduced reliance on pesticides while maintaining productive and resilient farming systems. The Scottish IPM Assessment Plan, hosted by the Plant Health Centre, provides farmers with a framework for assessing and improving their pest management practices. Over time, the tool has generated a substantial dataset containing information on farm characteristics, agronomic practices, pest pressures, decision-making processes and IPM adoption. This provides a rich evidence base on how IPM practices are being adopted across Scotland and how uptake is changing over time.

This project will undertake the first comprehensive analysis of the Scottish IPM Assessment Plan dataset. The study will investigate trends in IPM uptake, identify widely adopted and underutilised practices, assess how farm type, size and location influence IPM implementation, and examine geographical patterns of adoption across Scotland. It will also explore the behavioural, agronomic and socio-economic factors that influence pest management decisions and develop farmer typologies to better understand different approaches to IPM. The findings will provide evidence to support future policy development, targeted advice and incentives and improved knowledge exchange activities, helping to accelerate adoption of sustainable pest management practices across Scottish agriculture.

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