A pest-infested place, be it a farm or a person’s house, becomes highly uninhabitable if the problem is allowed to grow. Pests can flourish anywhere provided that they find for themselves basic nourishment and shelter. Once pests have been detected, gauging by the extent of the infestation, one should decide upon a suitable pest control service. For farms that have been victimized, it is wise to get professional pest control service to help you out since they will always follow more organized and practised methods. This goes a long way in assuring that a similar situation would not arise in the near future. As it is, an estimated 1.5 billion dollar worth of crops are lost to pests every year. A pest control service usually follows the IPM or Integrated Pest Management method. This method involves 3 stages — prevention, observation and intervention. It is an ecological endeavour, geared towards reducing the application of harmful pesticides while at the same time, controlling the spread of pests as well. It works on the principle of integrated control that tries to strike a balance between chemical and biological controls. This process allows the specialists to gather information about the nature of the pest and the extent of the damage. While a certain pest control service might think it best to use pesticides, another might take recourse to non-chemical means such as the eradication of the moisture content which allows the pests to breed by mending any leakages and cleaning out drains. Other such methods include sanitation, prevention, exclusion and mechanical control. Cleanliness is imperative for eradicating pests. Exclusion applies to the proper sealing of items that are potential breeding sites. Prevention refers to the salvaging process while mechanical control alludes to the act of getting rid of the pests.