Location: Vegetable Research
2020 Annual Report
Objectives
1. Obtain efficacy and residual data of insecticides, miticides, herbicides and fungicides on vegetable crops and ornamentals against insects and mites.
2. Provide national leadership in coordination of the minor use pesticide program in ARS; ensure compliance with all Federal GLP directives; and review, evaluate, and coordinate the development of data on efficacy, phytotoxicity, and residue data and ensure that these data are acceptable toward obtaining registrations for minor crops.
Approach
Field evaluations of insecticides, miticides, fungicides, and herbicides will be conducted on vegetable and ornamental crops. Research will be conducted according to IR-4 protocols and good laboratory practices. No specific treatments can be mentioned ahead of time because program needs change depending on industry requests. Residue samples will be assayed by appropriate federal, state, or private laboratories.
Progress Report
This is the final report for this project which was replaced by project #0500-00007-117-00D, "Coordination of Research Activities to Register Minor Use Pesticides, and Research in Food and Ornamental Crops to Support the IR-4 Program." Refer to project #0500-00007-117-00D for additional information.
ARS conducted pesticide research on specialty crops in cooperation with the IR-4 Project (previously named Interregional Research Project #4) and cooperating crop protection industries. The IR-4 Project is a national minor-use pesticide program (headquartered at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey; it is transitioning to North Carolina State University) that develops data that are required by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to register pesticides on food (fruits, vegetables, nuts, etc.) and non-food (floral, nursery, landscape plants, Christmas trees, etc.) specialty crops. Field food data were developed by ARS researchers in Charleston, South Carolina; Tifton, Georgia; Salinas, California; Wapato, Washington; and Wooster, Ohio. Also, two of the five USDA-supported pesticide residue laboratories are located at ARS facilities (Tifton, Georgia and Wapato, Washington). In support of the residue studies in the 2019 food residue research program, there were 49 USDA-ARS field trials. The two USDA-ARS analytical laboratories performed research on 44 sample sets of food projects involving analysis of residues samples. Environmental crops (also called ornamental crops) are grown under various conditions such as nurseries, greenhouses, and tree farms. These plants have a very high value per acre, but the small acreage compared with row crops can be a major deterrent to pesticide registrants to label their products for these uses. Data on these environmental crops were collected by ARS researchers in Charleston, South Carolina; Corvallis, Oregon; Tifton, Georgia; Wapato, Washington; Wooster, Ohio; and ARS state cooperators at Rutgers University. These researchers established 118 pesticide/crop combinations in the field to treat ornamental plants with pesticides to evaluate them for crop safety in 2020. In 2019, ARS data on environmental crops supported the registration of 9 crop uses with one biofungicide that is now available to growers of florist and nursery crops to reduce losses from powdery mildew. ARS’ informal cooperation continued with the Canadian minor use pesticide program on pesticide projects for food crops through the IR-4 Project. Because of the disruption due to COVID-19 pandemic on the Canadian program, ARS additionally accepted 5 Canadian field trials for research in 2020. With the onset of the pandemic, ARS participated on an IR-4 Taskforce to facilitate continued progress for the program. ARS researchers developed information at Charleston, South Carolina, on potential new uses for target compounds in cooperation with the IR-4 Project and crop protection industries. Research on eight insecticides, one fungicide, and one herbicide were completed for 10 food crop residue studies [including bean (snap), pepper (bell), cantaloupe, summer squash, cucumber, basil (herb), and sesame]. Also, 18 fungicides performance trials were completed for studies on ornamental crops (abelia, viburnum, aster, crape myrtle, leyland cypress, gardenia, Indian harwthhorn, juniper, loropetalum, hosta, rose, salvia, coreopsis, and verbena). Results from this work are being used to support the registration of needed pesticides on specialty crops, and many of these pesticides will subsequently be available for use by growers.
5-Year Progress: During the past 5 years, ARS completed 270 field food projects for pesticide residue studies. ARS also operated two of the five USDA-supported laboratories that conducted residue analyses on the field food crop studies for the IR-4 minor use registration program. Since this public program supporting the minor use pesticide registration on minor crops was started in 1963, the IR-4 Project research and regulatory activities have supported nearly 20,000 registrations of conventional pesticides and biopesticides on specialty food crops. During that time, the impact of the registrations on ornamental crops consisted of nearly 30,000 uses on non-food crops impacted by the IR-4 research and data. During the past 5 years, the overall IR-4 pesticide research on food crops and non-food environmental horticultural crops have resulted in over 600 tolerances and about 4,000 crop uses approved by EPA. For the food and non-food research conducted by the IR-4 Project, about 20% was contributed by ARS. The IR-4 program has emphasized research on products that are friendly to Integrated Pest Management Systems (IPM). This includes technologies of “Reduced-Risk” pesticides, biopesticides, and products that can be used in organic farming. ARS worked cooperatively with numerous partners including; growers and their commodity organizations, Land Grant Universities/State Agricultural Experiment Stations, crop protection industries (including large and small companies that register pest management products), multiple agencies of USDA, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Canada’s Pest Management Regulatory Agency (PMRA) and the Pest Management Centre in Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (CN-PMC), and others. The impact of IR-4’s research benefits farmers, food processors, and food retailers by helping them have legally registered crop protection products to manage pests. The public benefits through having an abundant choice of healthy vegetables, fruits, nuts and other foods, and desired environmental plants. ARS researchers annually participated in meetings hosted by the IR-4 Project, including the IR-4 Food Use Workshop. The research resulted in new federal pesticide label registrations, federal label amendments, state registrations and international label registrations.
Accomplishments
1. Registration of chemical pesticides for food, nursery, and floral crop. ARS researchers in Charleston, South Carolina, conducted pesticide research on specialty crops in cooperation with the IR-4 Project (previously named Interregional Research Project #4) and cooperating crop protection industries. The IR-4 Project is a national minor-use pesticide program (headquartered at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, and is transitioning to North Carolina State University) that develops data that are required by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to register pesticides on specialty crops. The IR-4 Project is the primary entity in the U.S. to facilitate registrations of conventional pesticides and bio-pesticides on specialty food crops (fruits, vegetables, nuts, etc.) and non-food environmental horticulture crops (floral, nursery, landscape plants, Christmas trees, etc.). These registrations are necessary to prevent damage to the crops we eat or the plants that enhance our environment. Field data on food crops (49 trials) were developed by ARS researchers in Charleston, South Carolina; Tifton, Georgia; Salinas, California; Wapato, Washington; and Wooster, Ohio; and laboratory residue data (44 sets of food projects) were developed by ARS facilities in Tifton, Georgia, and Wapato, Washington. Data on the non-food environmental crops were developed by ARS researchers at Charleston, South Carolina; Corvallis, Oregon; Tifton, Georgia; Wapato, Washington; Wooster, Ohio; and ARS state cooperators at Rutgers University; and established 118 pesticide/crop combinations to treat ornamental plants with pesticides for crop safety assessment in 2020. ARS data on environmental crops in 2019 supported the registration of 9 crop uses with one biofungicide that is now available to growers of florist and nursery crops to reduce losses from powdery mildew. The research provides a pipeline of data in support of registering pesticides to address grower needs for specialty food, nursery, and floral crops.
2. Field research supporting the registration of pesticides on vegetable and ornamental crops. There is a need for data to support the registration of new pesticides for use on vegetable and ornamental crops. Therefore, ARS researchers in Charleston, South Carolina, have developed information on potential new uses for target compounds in cooperation with the IR-4 Project (previously named Interregional Research Project #4) and cooperating crop protection industries. The IR-4 Project is a national minor-use pesticide program headquartered at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey; it is transitioning to North Carolina State University. Research on insecticides, fungicides and herbicides were completed for 10 food crop residue studies [including bean (snap), pepper (bell), cantaloupe, summer squash, cucumber, basil (herb), and sesame]. Also, 18 fungicides performance trials were completed for studies on ornamental crops (abelia, viburnum, aster, crape myrtle, leyland cypress, gardenia, Indian harwthhorn, juniper, loropetalum, hosta, rose, salvia, coreopsis, and verbena). Results from this work are being used to support the registration of needed pesticides on specialty crops, and many of these pesticides will subsequently be available for use by growers.
