Agriculture has long struggled to reconcile production with biodiversity conservation. Industrial farming practices that erode structural complexity within crop fields and across entire landscapes, as well as widespread pesticide use, have resulted in declining insect abundance and diversity globally. Recognition of socio-environmental consequences have spurred alternative pest management paradigms such as Conservation Biological Control and Integrated Pest and Pollinator Management (IPPM) which emphasize ecology as the scientific foundation for a sustainable agriculture. However, adoption of these approaches at scales large enough to impact biodiversity has been slow, particularly in North America. Landscape-scale management is an integral component of ecological agriculture, making pest control and biodiversity conservation collective problems that require coordination among multiple stakeholders. The extent to which farmers and researchers recognize and act upon this perspective is not well studied. Here I draw from rural sociology, political ecology, and science and technology studies (STS) to analyze two case studies: one of Wisconsin farmers' pest management practices and another of North American pollinator researcher's motivations and priorities. I argue that multiple overlapping institutions (social networks, market forces, science and technology, and political-legal systems) co-produce insect research, farmer behaviors, and landscape structure, largely to the detriment of ecological management and biodiversity. Ultimately, slowing agricultural drivers of insect biodiversity declines will likely require large-scale coordination and political-economic change.
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