Potato Pointers: Pesticide Resistance: What Action Will You Take?

By Phil Nolte|April 27, 2011

I thought I’d start out this month’s column with a couple of what I feel are pertinent questions. Do you know what the acronyms HRAC, IRAC, and FRAC stand for and why the organizations represented by these initials are important? For those of you who don’t know, the “RAC” portion of each stands for “Resistance Action Committee” and each of these organizations is dedicated to meeting the challenges posed by pesticide resistance in herbicides, insecticides, and fungicides, respectively. It’s no secret that potato producers are faced with an entire battery of pests and that the chemistries in each of the above categories are very important to modern production management techniques. One thing we as an industry simply must do is take steps to preserve the activity of these important pesticide tools. All three of these organizations are dedicated to this most worthy goal. Over the last several decades, there has been a constant search for more focused activity in the pesticides we use. Who doesn’t want an herbicide that controls the weeds without harming the crop or an insecticide that kills the insect pests and leaves the bee pollinators and other beneficial insects alone? One of the unfortunate facts of life concerning these new chemistries is that the very features that make them more “surgical” in their activity against the pests they target also makes them more vulnerable to the development of pesticide resistance.

Develop A Strategy

Do not follow an application of a certain active ingredient with one that is in the same mode of action “family.” Alternating with active ingredients from pesticide families with different modes of action will help to preserve the activity of both. For some of our pesticides, the fungicides in particular, combining two different types of active ingredient into a single application is also an effective technique. In today’s world, it is becoming easier than ever to determine which chemistries are related to others to help us make good decisions. The websites of each of the action committees contain a wealth of information about the organizations and also include charts and posters to help you keep the different families of active ingredients properly sorted out. What follows are websites for each of the action committees: – The Herbicide Resistance Action Committee: www.hracglobal.com. – The Fungicide Resistance Action Committee: www.frac.info – The Insecticide Resistance Action Committee: www.irac-online.org.

Do Your Part

Preserving the effectiveness of our pesticide tools is important to everyone involved in agriculture. If you have experienced an apparent pesticide failure, we need to know about it. Contact your local University Extension personnel and representatives of the company that sold you the product. Keep in mind, however, that pesticide resistance is only one of many possible reasons that pesticide applications fail to achieve the expected result. Lower than labeled rates, improper timing, improper application, and misidentification of the pest are just a few of the things that can lead to “failures.” To help you avoid such situations, I strongly recommend that you read the label before applying any pesticide. Pesticide resistance management is everyone’s responsibility. Do your part to prevent pesticide resistance and prolong the life of our pesticide tools. Formulate your plan of attack now. Check out the action committee websites for more information. Here’s to a prosperous and pest-free season!