Statement of Issues and Justification

Issue: By the middle of this century, our human population is predicted to reach nine billion. Food production systems must become more efficient while at the same time reducing impacts to agricultural ecosystems. There is already greater pressure to develop sustainable systems and agrochemical use will remain a cornerstone for protecting crop yield and thereby helping to meet demands for increased food production. Inevitably, a portion of the applied agrochemicals is lost to the surrounding environment potentially adversely affecting human and environmental health. Thus, assuring sustainable crop production systems and human-environmental protection will pose increasingly difficult challenges. To minimize risks to humans and to ecosystems, environmentally sound crop and public health protection will require keen understanding of traditional as well as emerging approaches for the study of fate and effects of agrochemicals along with sound mitigation strategies. In the future it will be of equal importance investigating beneficial impacts of agrochemicals juxtaposed to adverse impacts.

Continuation of the W-5045 multistate multidisciplinary research project will enable collaborations that go beyond the scope of any individual state Agricultural Experiment Stations (AES) or US Department of Agriculture-Agricultural Research Service (USDA-ARS) units for advancing and transferring science to agricultural, regulatory stakeholders, and the public who require innovative solutions to complex human and environmental health concerns.

Justification: Since it was chartered in 1956, the W-5045 multistate Hatch research group has provided leadership in identifying agrochemical fate in terrestrial and aquatic systems, exposure and health effects, characterizing adverse impacts from agrochemical exposure to cells, organisms, and ecosystems, and putting into practice and advancing mitigation technologies that reduce risks to humans and the environment. Today, the work of W- 5045 extends well beyond the western region with involvement from a wide assemblage of USDA-ARS and nationwide state AES land-grant university researchers-extension specialists. W-5045 members effectively integrate information across scales ranging from molecular to landscape levels to address the fate and effects of agrochemicals and emerging organic contaminants in/on human, animal and environmental health. The ability to cross disciplinary boundaries and to adapt novel measurement and modeling tools to address complex emerging environmental problems while also interfacing with regulatory stakeholders to employ these tools remains essential for improved management and communication of hazards and risk. Cooperating W- 5045 group researchers represent an array of aligned disciplines in basic and applied biology, ecology, toxicology, environmental chemistry, engineering, risk assessment, outreach, and education to address current and emerging human- environmental agrochemical health issues. USDA-ARS facilities in MN, MD and SD and state land grant AES colleges and their affiliate institutions span over the west (CA, HI, MT, NV, OR, WA), Great Plains (NE, IA), Midwest (IL, IN, MI, MN, OH, WI), east (CT, NJ, MA, NY), and southern states (NC, FL, LA). W-5045 includes nationwide representation of university faculty (e.g., UC Riverside, Louisiana State, Ohio State, University of Florida, Oregon State, University of Nebraska), USDA Agricultural Research Service scientists and industry representatives (e.g., Bayer), all who work collaboratively on important issues such as crop protection, climate change, sustainability, transport and mitigation, and bioindicators of ecological health. Research by group members includes basic and applied work targeted at solving agrochemical-related challenges all while adding knowledge in fields such as environmental chemistry and toxicology. Collectively, this group provides critical information for maintaining a profitable and sustainable agricultural economy in the US.