Location: Application Technology Research
2022 Annual Report
Objectives
Obtain performance data and/or residue samples or analyze crop samples to support the registration of minor-use pesticides for food, ornamental and specialty crops. [NP304, C3, PS 3B]
Approach
The program has four specific goals: 1) Provide growers with safer pesticide chemicals needed to maintain crop quality and productivity; 2) Maintain a viable ARS Minor Use Pesticide Program to cooperate with the IR-4 national program and assist in the registration of new crop protection tools for specialty crops; 3) Generate sufficient, high quality residue data to support tolerances for specialty food crops and expand existing label registrations; and 4) Develop crop safety and efficacy data to add new uses to existing pesticide labels for growers of nursery and floral crops. As a result of these efforts, adequate pest and pathogen control measures will be available for continued growth and marketing of high-quality, high-yielding commodities, as well as plants for landscapes, homes, and gardens. Further, this work will result in an expanded availability of safe, effective pest control materials for conventional and organic, large and small farm and greenhouse production systems, replacing higher risk, less environmentally friendly products. As an added benefit, the expanded technologies will improve resistance management schemes due to reduced reliance on a few pesticides.
Progress Report
In FY22, the ARS in Wooster, OH the IR-4 food use project conducted 15 vegetable and herb projects using good laboratory practices, and the IR-4 ornamentals project conducted 15 nursery crop trials and 6 greenhouse crop trials testing crop safety of herbicides and fungicides. Since the USDA, ARS, Unit is co-located at the Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center in Wooster, Ohio, trials were held at the Wooster Campus in fields and greenhouses, Snyder Farm; Muck Crops Agricultural Research Station (OARDC) in Huron County and at the North Central Agricultural Research Station (OARDC) in Sandusky County. The impacts of the IR-4 trials were to support hundreds of registrations for specialty crops that pesticide companies would not otherwise support. Data from crop safety (ornamental) and residue (food) trials are submitted to IR-4 headquarters, then disseminated to the relevant pesticide companies. The pesticide companies use these data to determine whether the pesticides should be registered on the crops tested. Any phytotoxicity in the crop safety trials will usually make the respective pesticide unacceptable for registration on the tested crop. Samples from food use trials are sent out for residue analysis, then that data is sent to IR-4 for dissemination to the pesticide companies. All FY22 trials are still ongoing, and reports from the FY21 trials were sent to IR-4 in January 2022.
Accomplishments
