IPM in the South

Many of the food quality and safety standards we enjoy today were initiated over a decade ago when Congress passed the Food Quality Protection Act. FQPA revamped the way EPA evaluated potential pesticide risks, especially to infants and children.

 FQPA required that all pesticides had to be re-evaluated and re-registered based on risk. Because FQPA imposed much stricter standards on pesticides based on human exposure, growers were concerned that they would lose the ability to protect their crops from pests. In fact, several of the organophosphates and carbamates were canceled because EPA deemed them too risky to human health or the environment.

 To help researchers develop alternatives to some of the more toxic pesticides, USDA Cooperative State Research, Education and Extension Service (now the National Institute of Food and Agriculture or NIFA) created two competitive grant programs—Crops at Risk (CAR) and Risk Avoidance and Mitigation Program for Cropping Systems (RAMP). The programs integrated research, education and extension and were included in Section 406 of the Congressional budget, designed for integrated programs. The Methyl Bromide Transitions (MBT) program, another competitive grant program included in Section 406, was developed in 2000 in response to the Montreal Protocol on ozone-depleting substances.

 This blog post is the first in a series about the IPM programs in Section 406 (excluding IPM Centers): CAR, RAMP and MBT.

 Crops At Risk (CAR)

 The cancellation of pesticides placed several crops at risk of severe losses. Peaches and apples, for instance, were two of the first crops affected by the loss of some of the OP’s and carbamates. The Crops At Risk grant program funds two-year research projects on a crop in risk of severe losses because of the cancellation of pesticides. A list of past CAR awards for the Southern Region follows:

 Funding Amounts per state for Crops At Risk: