  Agricultural losses to pest represent an important challenge in a global
warming scenario. Intercropping is an alternative farming practice that
promotes pest control without the use of chemical pesticides. Here we develop a
mathematical model to study epidemic spreading and control in intercropped
agricultural fields as a sustainable pest management tool for agriculture. The
model combines the movement of aphids transmitting a virus in an agricultural
field, the spatial distribution of plants in the intercropped field, and the
presence of `trap crops' in an epidemiological Susceptible-Infected-Removed
(SIR) model. Using this model we study several intercropping arrangements
without and with trap crops and find a new intercropping arrangement that
improves significantly pest management in agricultural fields respect to the
commonly used intercrop systems.
