Don’t Miss the Value Of IR-4 [Opinion]

Virtually every year, fruit growers are forced to deal with troublesome pest issues. It could be a common weed or disease that, unfortunately, is not listed on the label for the primary crop protection materials they use. It could also be a new insect that is causing headaches. Sure, there may be talk of a label addition on the horizon, but that is a process that can take years of tests and analysis to come to fruition.

As these problems come up, there is one organization whose purpose is to expedite EPA registration of such materials. That organization is the IR-4 Project. Chances are that if you have read news of a pest control product being approved for use on a particular crop, the team behind IR-4 had something to do with it.

Now, IR-4 is facing the possibility of losing much of its funding, thanks to a provision in President Obama’s proposed 2013 budget that would consolidate IR-4’s funds with other various IPM programs.

 

A Legacy Of Success

The IR-4 Project was established by Congress in 1963 to assist growers of fruits, vegetables, herbs, ornamentals, and other specialty crops by facilitating through EPA the registration of safe and effective technology to protect these high-value crops from insects, diseases, weeds, and other pests. For nearly 50 years, producers have depended on IR-4 to facilitate the registration of materials for use in their plant protection programs. The IR-4 Project has delivered more than 13,000 new uses to help growers manage pests.

A coalition called “Friends of IR-4,” made up of industry specialty crop associations (as well as companies such as Meister Media Worldwide, publisher of American/Western Fruit Grower), cites many of the benefits IR-4 provides, including those that go beyond the ones listed above.

• Enhanced food safety: More than 80% of IR-4 research and supported registrations are with lower and reduced risk products.

• Economic development: There is great opportunity to expand export markets for specialty crops. IR-4 is working with EPA and regulatory authorities to harmonize acceptable levels of pesticides to eliminate trade barriers.

• Public health pesticides: In conjunction with the Department of Defense, this new initiative by IR-4 facilitates registrations of new products to manage pests that transmit diseases to humans such as West Nile Virus, Dengue fever, Lyme disease, and malaria.

• Return on taxpayer investment: Recent data from Michigan State University reports that the IR-4 Project contributes more than $7.2 billion to the U.S. Gross Domestic Product. Federal funding provides more than a 200-fold return on investment. More importantly, the federal funds for IR-4 support more than 100,000 jobs throughout the U.S.

On a personal note, I have seen first-hand the importance and urgency IR-4 places on assisting fruit and vegetable growers. Each fall, the group hosts a Food Use Workshop in which it spends two days reviewing a long list of industry requests for support of label additions. These requests are prioritized for the upcoming year, and there is no shortage of discussion among researchers, product managers, and some growers as well. Along with some of our other editors, I’ve been fortunate to attend this workshop.

But the connection to the industry does not stop there. For the past few years, IR-4 has hosted EPA scientists and policy makers on summer tours focused on a particular pest or other area of need. This past year’s tour centered around the brown marmorated stink bug, and it gave EPA officials the chance to meet personally with growers and USDA scientists who are battling this pest on a daily basis.

 

Still Time To Help

Go to the “Save IR-4” website (www.saveir-4.org), and you can learn more about how President Obama’s proposed budget would potentially slash funding for IR-4 by consolidating it with funds from various IPM programs into a new project called Crop Protection. Not only would this course of action severely limit IR-4’s mission to hasten registration of pest management materials for small markets, it would also have the opposite effect of the President’s intentions by requiring $3.6 million in additional dollars just to maintain IR-4 research activities at current levels to account for the loss of the indirect cost waiver to host universities.

Unfortunately, the time period for submitting comments to your elected officials, urging them to maintain dedicated funding of at least $12 million for IR-4 in 2013 within the USDA-NIFA Research and Education Activities, ended last month. But that does not mean you should stop making your voice heard. Keep reading American/Western Fruit Grower to learn more about what you can do to help.