SAES-422 Multistate Research Activity Accomplishments Report
Sections
Status: Approved
Basic Information
- Project No. and Title: NRSP4 : Facilitating Registration of Pest Management Technology for Specialty Crops and Specialty Uses
- Period Covered: 01/02/2022 to 12/31/2022
- Date of Report: 11/02/2023
- Annual Meeting Dates: 03/07/2023 to 03/09/2023
Participants
Michael Aerts; CLC Jerry Baron; IR-4 Executive Director Zach Bagley; CLC Chris Bardenhagen; CLC Michael Bledsoe; CLC Doug Buhler; Administrative Advisor-NCR Jennifer Clarke; CLC Maggie Elliot; CLC William Frantz; CLC Liwei Gu; Regional Director-SOR Matt Hengel; PMC Chair; Regional Director-WR Marcel Holyoak; Administrative Adviser – WR Bob Jones; CLC Moses Kairo; Administrative Adviser – NER Steve Lommel; Administrative Adviser- HQ Michael Martin; CLC Armando Moterroso; CLC Joe Munyaneza; Administrative Adviser - ARS Keith Pitts; CLC Vice Chair Rachel Roberts; CLC Steve Salisbury; CLC Michelle Samuel-Foo; USDA-NIFA Johnathan Saranger; CLC Todd Scholz; CLC Chair Robert Simerly; Outgoing CLC Alvin Simmons; USDA-ARS Barry Tanner; CLC Dave Trinka; CLC Amy Upton; CLC Lee VanWychen; CLC Herman Waguespack; CLC John Wise; Regional Director-NCR Simon Zebelo; Regional Director - NER
Motions/Consensus Items:
1. CLC Vote: A motion was made to approve the “Track D” Commodity Liaison Committee membership list by Michael Bledsoe; seconded by Amy Upton. Unanimously approved.
2. A motion to approve the minutes of the Fall 2022 and Special Meeting of January 19, 2023 meetings was made by John Wise, seconded by Todd Scholz. Unanimously approved.
3. A motion was made to approve the “Track D” Commodity Liaison Committee membership list by Todd Scholz; seconded by Jerry Baron. Unanimously approved.
4. Consensus was held to hold the Summer PMC meeting virtually; and to look at the agenda to see if the meeting date could be reduced to two days, rather than three.
5. Consensus was given to develop a national Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) template, pilot it on the Electronic Field Data Notebook, and evaluate it.
6. A motion to adjourn the regular session at 5:15 pm and to move to Executive Session, was made by Alvin Simmons; seconded by Simon Zebelo. Unanimously approved.
7. A motion to accept the nomination of Dr. Bernard Zandstra as an IR-4 Hall of Fame Award Recipient was made by Alvin Simmons, seconded by Jerry Baron. Unanimously approved.
8. Consensus was given on the potential for IR-4 Headquarters to modify the budget on the research side of the food use workshop to account for costly projects, and bring back to the PMC for review.
9. A motion was made to adjourn the meeting at 11:00 am by Alvin Simons seconded by Todd Scholz. Unanimously approved
Motions/Consensus Votes Made Via Email In-Between Regular Meetings:
1. The PMC voted via email for approval of the IR-4 Project Biopesticide Program to provide regulatory assistance for the use of a dsRNA for control of the Red Palm Weevil. Approved by written consent (1 abstention: Jerry Baron).
2. The PMC voted via email for approval of Debbie Carpenter to receive a Special Exceptional Leadership Award to be presented at the 2023 National Education Conference. Approved by unanimous written consent.
3. The PMC voted via email for approval of the IR-4 Project Biopesticide Program to provide regulatory assistance for an attenuated strain of Cucumber Green Mottle Mosaic Virus (CGMMV) that acts as a vacc
Accomplishments
FOOD USE PROGRAM
Successes • 694 new tolerances for 13 active ingredients established by U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) resulting in 750 potential new product uses on food crops
Regulatory Actions • 13 tolerance petitions submitted to the EPA covering 101 unique requests for assistance and crop group tolerance updates
Research • 347 residue trials contributing to 47 Magnitude of the Residue studies • 93 efficacy/crop safety trials contributing to 41 Product Performance projects • 60 field trials contributing to 28 Integrated Solutions projects
INTERNATIONAL ACTIVITIES
• Provided technical leadership in international priority setting workshops, project planning and implementation
• Conducted capacity building on biopesticide regulations and GLP • Assisted with a new international database
• Promoted harmonization of residue data development and MRLs in Europe and beyond • Gave technical guidance to an import MRL program promoting the export of US specialty crop commodities to Southeast Asia
ENVIRONMENTAL HORTICULTURE PROGRAM
Successes • IR-4 submitted data to expand one EPA registration, supporting 41 additional environmental horticulture crop uses
Regulatory Actions • 20 submissions of data reports to companies to support new or update existing registrations
Research • 626 field and greenhouse trials (321 efficacy, 305 crop safety) that contributed to 50 projects
Impacts
- Facilitating New Crop protection technolog Based on EPA actions, IR-4 data supported 750 potential new registrations on food crops in 2022 and positively influenced 41 uses on non-food crops. These new registrations help producers grow an abundance of high-quality food and ornamental crops needed and desired by consumers, help growers remain profitable, contribute to our well-being, and help to bolster rural economies while respecting the environment. Food processors and food retailers benefit in having a consistent supply of high-quality produce and/or raw materials to meet consumer demand or keep their processing facilities open and operational. The public benefits through having an abundant choice of healthy vegetables, fruits, nuts and other foods available at reasonable prices, as well as having ornamental horticulture plants to enhance the landscape and environment. IR4’s actions also prevent food waste throughout the supply chain at the farm to the consumer. ● The IR-4 Project has been a major contributor to the advancement of Integrated Pest Management (IPM) tactics through approval of crop protection tools that give producers suitable options to manage destructive pests that disrupt advanced IPM systems. ● IR-4’s Integrated Solutions initiative couples bio-based products with conventional products in a defined system whose objectives are to reduce chemical residues in food, provide a means to break up pest resistance to pesticides and in some cases, develop a lower risk solution to the most difficult to manage pests. ● IR-4 continues to work with EPA to expand and enhance the USA/Canada Crop Groups/SubGroups. Once approved and implemented, these crop groups allow collection of residue data on a small number of representative crops and extend the use of the exposure values to a much larger number of similar crops in the crop group or subgroup. There are huge cost savings as cropgrouping extrapolation allows IR-4 and others in the regulated community to use resources in a smart and efficient manner. The sixth Final Rule in a series of updates to pesticide crop groupings was published in the Federal Register. Revisions were made to Crop Group 6 (Legumes), Crop Group 7 (Foliage of Legume Vegetables), Crop Group 15 (Cereal Grains) and Crop Group 16 (Forage, Fodder and Straw of Cereal Grains)
- Economic Value-(Forage, Fodder and Straw of Cereal Grains). ● Michigan State University’s Center of Economic Analysis reported the economic impact of IR-4 Project’s activities supports over 111 thousand domestic jobs with a total annual payroll of $5.34 billion in 2021 dollars. When accounting for all sources of national income, the IR-4 Project is estimated to contribute $8.97 billion to annual gross domestic product, including direct and secondary effects, which measures how dollars are re-spent throughout the economy. Several channels of economic contribution go into these measures, including direct expenditures of the IR-4 Project, anticipated crop losses mitigated under each of the two IR-4 Programs, through Biopesticide Regulatory Support and through gaining EPA exemptions for pesticide use when few or no other options for pest management exists. Recognizing that benefits realized today come from over 50 years of IR-4 Project efforts, we show that we can attribute about seven jobs today for every $1,000 in annual public investment in the IR-4 Project. See https://www.canr.msu.edu/resources/economic-impact-of-the-ir-4-project-and-programs-2022 for details. ● The Environmental Horticulture Program continues to support an industry valued at nearly $19.2 billion in annual sales (Horticulture Census, 2019, NASS). This industry is quite complex because growers cover many diverse markets including flowers, bulbs, houseplants, perennials, trees, shrubs and more. These plants are grown and maintained in greenhouses, nurseries, commercial/residential landscapes, interiorscapes, Christmas tree farms and sod farms.
Publications
Axtell, A. and Pedibhotla V. 2022. Pesticide use nearby rivers & other water bodies: tips for reducing pesticide loss & novel technologies. EPA webinar series: Reducing pesticide in water in indian country thru integrated pest management
Axtell, A. and Batts, R. 2022. Fall 2022 sweet potato update (handout) - the IR-4 project. NCSU sweet potato field day
Ballantyne, A. 2022. Crop Vignette: Hibiscus. Crop Vignette: Hibiscus – IR-4 Project (ir4project.org)
Ballantyne, A. 2022. Crop Vignette: Phlox. Crop Vignette: Phlox – IR-4 Project (ir4project.org)
Ballantyne, A. and Palmer, C.L. 2022. Crop Vignette: Clematis. Crop Vignette: Clematis – IR-4 Project (ir4project.org)
Batts, R.B., J. J. Baron, and V. K. Pedibhotla. 2022. IR-4: Weed Science Update - Food Crops. Weed Science Society of America annual meeting. Abstract #151
Batts, R.B., J. J. Baron, and V. K. Pedibhotla. 2022. IR-4: Weed Science Update - Food Crops. Western Society of Weed Science annual meeting. Abstract #111
Batts, R.B., J. J. Baron, and V. K. Pedibhotla. 2022. IR-4: Weed Science Update - Food Crops. North Central Weed Science Society annual meeting. Abstract #150
Braverman, M., W. Barney, P. Moore and J. Baron. 2022. Regulatory requirements for biopesticides and emerging technologies. Association of Applied Biologists Meeting, “Bringing Biocontrol and IPM to Market,” Abstract, Page 29
Frank S., Gilrein D., Havers M., and Palmer C. L. 2022. Box Tree Moth: Fact Sheet, Management & Visual Guide. BTM_FactSheet_VisualGuide.pdf (ncsu.edu)
Palmer, C. L. 2022. Crop Vignette: Poinsettia. Crop Vignette: Poinsettia – IR-4 Project (ir4project.org)
Salazar, C. S., LeBlanc N., Daughtrey M. L., Hausbeck M., Palmer C., Shishkoff N., Warfield C., and Crouch J. A. 2022. The impatiens downy mildew epidemic in the U.S. is caused by new, introgressed lineages of Plasmopara destructor with prominent genotypic diversity and high evolutionary potential. Plant Disease. https://doi.org/10.1094/PDIS-08-22-1872-R