**1. Introduction**

The history of integrated pest management in soybeans in Brazil is linked to the changing concept in pest control that occurred in the 1960s, a period when the world was alerted to the dangers of abusive use of pesticides [1, 2]. This fact prompted government policies to reduce the use of these chemicals through incentives for the adoption of integrated pest management programs in different crops. It was then that the concept of integrated management began to be popularized and is now considered a major technological breakthrough. As it is common

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knowledge, the IPM aims at integrating various management tactics instead of relying on the control by the exclusive use of insecticides [3]. Its concept essentially consists of a decisionmaking process involving the coordinated use of multiple tactics to optimize the control of all classes of pests in a sustainable and economically compatible way [4]. This philosophy of management has spread worldwide and arrived in Brazil, being rapidly incorporated into the control of pests, especially for maize crop.

Brazilian agriculture has evolved in recent years, with significant yield gains in many eco‐ nomically important crops, including maize. Besides the use of agricultural inputs with quality and cutting-edge technologies, the climate in general has contributed to the increase in production. Despite these favorable factors, phytophagous insects also continue to be a cause for concern in agribusiness because of its great ability to adapt to changes seen in production systems. The solution adopted to reduce the losses arising from the injury caused by pests has been, in most cases, the application of chemical insecticides. It is relatively easy to understand the reasons that have led the farmer to choose chemical control as a control tactic of "recog‐ nized" insects to cause economic losses.

The general understanding is that chemical insecticides have indisputable advantages: low cost, acts quickly, little demand in knowledge, and can be used to control various pest species. Other causes for probably using chemical control almost in a predominant way is the lack of knowledge about other control tactics or even the lack of conviction about the effectiveness of these alternative methods such as integrated pest management.

The efficiency of chemical control is often not the expected by the simple fact that it depends on several technical factors, which most often are not considered when applying the product. Sprayer type, application type, nozzles for spraying, droplet size needed for good plant cover, solution volume, application speed, climatic factors (such as wind speed, rainfall, temperature, and humidity), phenological stage of the plant and of the pest target, attack site and economic level damage of the pest, and even the applicator qualification are some factors that can compromise the action of the applied product. Therefore, when these factors are not consid‐ ered, the probability of not achieving the expected results is high.

As soon as frustrations to control a certain pest begin to occur, the farmer must analyze, along with an expert, the causes of failure of the means adopted so far. When this analysis is not done, in general, there is always a risk of a mistaken decision making and probably leading to a situation worse than already detected. For example, making new applications or mixing or changing active ingredients (without considering that perhaps the causes are not related to the product used). Applications in excess also entail higher cost, with no evidence that they would be effective to control the pest satisfactorily.
