Biological control is the usage of beneficial insects to control agricultural pests and diseases. There are 3 main groups of beneficial insects in biological control, namely predator (prey on their host directly), parasitoids (lay their eggs in/on their hosts) and pathogens (bacteria, virus, fungus and nematodes). The most well known biological control measure is the usage of beneficial insects to suppress the pest populations under economic threshold levels.

Biological control is a control measure included in IPM programs. Furthermore, other control measures such as, cultural control, chemical control, and mechanical control can be used in coordination with biological control in IPM strategies. Particularly, while chemical control activities need to be combined with biological control, the chosen chemical, the dosage and the application time is important for both pest control and biological control applications.

Biological control applications should be strictly separated from organic agriculture applications. However, biological control should be a part of any organic agriculture programs. Biological control is especially important for organic agriculture, when conventional chemical control cannot be used.