Specialty Crop And Minor-use Pesticide Prioritization Set For 2017 By IR-4

By Satoru Miyazaki

The IR-4 Project (Interregional Research Project No.4) is charged to ensure that safe and effective pest management solutions are available for growers of specialty crops and for minor uses. Specialty crop research needs are prioritized each year during a national workshop since resources are limited. Research priority A’s for 2017 field program for fruits, vegetables, nuts, field and oil crops, herbs and other miscellaneous crops in the United States and Canada were selected at the Food Use and Biopesticide Workshop held Sept. 21-23 in Orlando, Florida.

More than 160 people attended the two and half day meeting: specialty crop researchers, extension specialists, representatives of commodity and industry groups across the country, and personnel from EPA, USDA, IR-4 plus the AAFC (Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada that conducts Canadian counterpart of minor use program) and PMRA (Pest Management Regulatory Agency, i.e., Canadian counterpart of U.S. EPA). For Michigan’s fruit and vegetable interests, the workshop was attended by Michigan State University’s Bernard Zandstra, Satoru Miyazaki, John Wise, Mary Hausbeck, Dennis Fulbright, Lynnae Jess and Celeste Wheeler. Representing a Michigan growers’ group was Dave Trinka (blueberry).

The prioritization process focused on the most critical pest management needs from all disciplines for each commodity. Participants were provided with a list of 174 pesticides “nominated” with desired priority of A, B or C prior to the food-use workshop. As a group, they ranked products based on availability and efficacy of alternative pest management tools (including ongoing projects for the same need and resistance management), damage potential of target pests, performance and crop safety of the chemical in managing the target pests, compatibility of the proposed chemical candidate with integrated pest management, uses currently covered by Section 18 emergency exemptions, and harmonization implications due to lack of international MRLs (Maximum Residue Limits).

Based on projected budget appropriations for IR-4 in 2017, only 41 “A” priority projects throughout the disciplines were selected. Thus, most of the unselected projects were down-graded to “B” priority or lower. An “A” priority guarantees IR-4 to begin the field residue program during the following season and complete it within 30 months. The timeline will be shortened when IR-4 joins the company’s petition submission schedule with the expectation that a complete data package be submitted to the EPA in 16-24 months.

In addition to the above projects that require pesticide residue analysis under GLP, eight “H+” (high priority plus) efficacy/crop safety projects were selected, because potential registrants want to see the data first before IR-4 conducts full residue studies, or IR-4 needs to screen pest control products for new pests, the PPWS (pest problems without solution) projects.

Twenty-six “A” priority projects important for Michigan were selected. In addition, five candidate H+ projects for Michigan growers were identified (see Table 2). Any “B” priority projects must be upgraded to “A” priority either by an Priority Upgrade Proposal (PUP) with good justification or by regional upgrade, i.e., the crops or the pests are limited to a particular region.

The following new candidate priority “A” projects listed are preliminary until affirmed at the IR-4 National Planning Teleconference Oct. 31-Nov. 2, 2016. A complete listing can be found on the IR-4 website.

Table 1. Priority “A” projects for Michigan fruits and vegetables

Table 2. High priority needs for efficacy/crop safety projects for Michigan fruits and vegetables

Biopesticides priorities of Michigan interest were also identified. For instance, there are no conventional insecticides to control blueberry stem gall wasps that are spreading. It is considered the PPWS. Some cultivars are highly susceptible, accounting for over 30 percent of Michigan acreage. Growers need a bee-safe approach to protect blueberry shoots from stem gall wasps.

Table 3. Results of the 2016 Biopesticide Workshop (priorities are ranked within a column)

Source:msu.edu