The Organic Center recently announced a project to provide organic apple and pear growers with critical information on how to prevent fire blight in orchards while maintaining rigorous organic standards.
The issue at hand is fire blight, a bacterial tree disease. Fire blight is a serious problem for organic apples and pears. Organic farmers will no longer be allowed to use oxytetracycline, one of the key control agents to prevent this disease, as of October 2014.
Fire blight just doesn’t just destroy the fruit; it has the potential to kill the entire tree. The disease is highly contagious among trees and orchards, and the potential for damage is great. Fire blight could have huge ramifications on the future organic apple and pear market (which is now estimated to be more than $300 million at retail). Washington state, which leads in production, currently has more than 15,000 acres dedicated to organic apple and pear orchards.
Recent polls conducted by David Granatstein, sustainable agriculture specialist at Washington State University, show that 70-90% of all organic apple and pear producers may switch to non-organic management if an alternative control is not available by the time oxytetracycline use expires.
“Based on Washington State surveys, many organic growers do not feel that there are suitable replacements to antibiotics yet, and are thus considering reducing their organic apple or pear production due to the risk that fire blight poses,” said Granatstein.
To address the issue of non-antibiotic alternatives for fire blight control, The Organic Center is funding a project in collaboration with Granatstein and Harold Ostenson, to research integrative antibiotic-free management strategies. The project will be published as a report written by farmers for farmers, reviewing methods for controlling fire blight holistically, and covering other pertinent issues. This will provide a critically needed bridge to cover the gap created with the 2014 expiration of oxytetracycline.
“This project will play a vital role in ensuring that apple and pear growers are able to continue their organic operations without losing trees to fire blight,” said Jessica Shade, the director of science programs for The Organic Center.
Shade said the project has received support from the organic industry from many companies and is expected to be completed in time for the 2014 growing season.
Source: The Organic Center news release.