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:

Integrated Management Of Snap Bean Pythium Cottony Leak Through Isolate Characterization, Fungicide Sensitivity And Host Resistance	2009	Rideout, S. L.	Virginia Polytechnic Institute Blacksburg, VA
Relationship Between Sources Of Inoculum And Fungicide Resistance: The Key To Better Management Of Gummy Stem Blight In Watermelon	2008	Stevenson, K. L.	University Of Georgia Athens, Georgia
Building An Area-Wide IPM Perspective For Stalk Borers Threatening Sugarcane And Rice	2008	Reagan, T.	Louisiana State University Baton Rouge, Louisiana
Web-Based Decision Support System For Peanut Pest Management In The Virginia-Carolina Region	2007	Wilkerson, G. G.	North Carolina State Univ Raleigh, NC
Enhancing Peanut Management Through Development And Implementation Of A Web-Based Decision Support System	2004	Wilkerson, G. G.	North Carolina State Univ Raleigh, North Carolina
Assessment And Integration Of Multiple Tactics For Management Of Aphid-Transmitted Virus Diseases	2004	Zehnder, G. W.	Clemson University Clemson, South Carolina
Alternatives To Organophosphates And Carbamates For Managing Aphids In Wheat And Sorghum	2003	Pendleton, B. B.	West Texas A&M University Canyon, Texas
Development And Implementation Of An IPM Program For Exotic And Native Stalk Borers Threatening Sugarcane And Rice In Louisiana And Texas	2003	Reagan, T. E.	Louisiana State University Baton Rouge, Louisiana
Controlled Ambient Aeration As A Pest Management Strategy In Stored Rice	2001	Siebenmorgen, T. J.	University Of Arkansas Fayetteville, Arkansas
Integrated Management Of Foliar Diseases Of Melons In The Eastern U.S.	2001	Keinath, A. P.	Clemson University Clemson, South Carolina

 Funding Amounts per state for Crops At Risk:

State	Grant Totals
Arkansas	$379,895
Georgia	$240,250
Louisiana	$394,587
North Carolina	$537,306
South Carolina	$296,333
Texas	$450,000
Virginia	$170,133

Filed under: Budget, Pesticides Tagged: | budget cuts, Crops at Risk, IPM Funding, President's budget request, Section 406