Gazzola Farms

Paul Gazzola 

Gazzola Farms, on the Mornington Peninsula, produces lettuce, broccoli, celery and Asian vegetables. They use Integrated Pest Management (IPM), which is an approach that seeks to reduce harmful pests through a combination of means.

Some of the techniques Paul mentions include:

• Encouraging beneficial insects such as ladybirds, lacewings and hoverflies. These insects hunt out and predate on pest insects.


• Monitoring insect numbers – using direct observational data (weekly entomologist visits) to check that beneficial insects outnumber the pests.


• Reducing chemical inputs, hopefully to nil or near-zero use.

They have seen an improvement in the produce itself. Reduced chemical inputs benefit the soil microbiome. Consumer education remains a challenge.

Explore IPM in more detail with A Better Way To Farm

Concepts in this video include:

Design Decisions