Risk Avoidance and Mitigation Program (RAMP)
PI(s): Walgenbach, J, Agnello, A, Reissig, H., Nyrop, J., Biddinger, D., Krawczyk, G, Harper, J, Shearer, P, Gut, L, Mcghee, P, Hull, L., Bergh, J Christopher
Investigators:
Abstract: The USDA "Risk Avoidance and Mitigation Program" (RAMP) is intended to address and assist growers with the transitions stemming from ongoing pesticide regulatory changes under the Food Quality Protection Act (FQPA). A collaborative effort among tree fruit entomologists from seven eastern states has been supported by two consecutive RAMP grants, designed to develop arthropod pest management programs that rely exclusively on “reduced risk” and “organophosphate-replacement” products and tactics. Our ultimate goal is to develop programs that are effective and affordable to the grower and that conform to the tenets of less risk to the consumer, the agricultural worker and the environment.
Description: The first eastern tree fruit RAMP grant involved principal investigators from MI, NY, NJ, PA, WV and NC, and my role in VA was voluntary and by invitation. This project was implemented in 2002 and continued over four consecutive growing seasons. At the outset, commercial grower cooperators in each state designated specific "reduced risk" blocks of trees (ca. 5 – 10 acres) for treatment only with "reduced risk" and "organophosphate alternative" pesticides and tactics. Each grower also designated other blocks for treatment according to their standard pest management practices, typically involving heavy reliance on organophosphates, carbamates and pyrethroids. Reduced risk pest management programs included neonicotinoids, several insect growth regulators, other novel classes of chemistry and sex pheromone-based mating disruption for key lepidopteran pests. Each principal investigator developed pest management programs for their reduced risk blocks according to region-specific needs and pest complexes. Pest management decisions and spray application timings for those orchards were based on extensive scouting and pheromone trap based monitoring, and utilized action thresholds and degree-day driven phenological models. As well as numerous in-season evaluations of program efficacy, intensive sampling and evaluations at harvest reported damage levels from specific pests and a grading of fruit based on USDA standards. A project economist used the harvest data to calculate individual and average differences in the profitability between the reduced risk and standard programs for grower cooperators from each state. After the first year of this project, it became apparent that although the apple pest complex in reduced risk blocks could be managed effectively, the significantly higher cost of these programs represented a major impediment to their adoption by growers. In subsequent years, our efforts were focused on maintaining the efficacy of the reduced risk programs while reducing their cost. Increased reliance on information from scouting and monitoring improved the cost effectiveness of these programs and there were instances when the quality and value of fruit harvested from reduced risk blocks compensated for the higher costs of materials used in them using, and growers showed net profit. However, these were a minority of instances and the overall conclusion was that exclusive use of these materials would come at an increased cost and therefore at reduced profitability to growers. There were some indications of positive effects of these materials on natural enemy populations, however not all of the reduced risk chemistries are benign with respect to their toxicity to beneficial arthropods. It was concluded that strategic combinations of reduced risk and standard pesticides and tactics could provide effective and affordable pest management solutions and also could be viewed as a viable approach for insecticide resistance management. The research supported by our second RAMP grant begins during the 2007 field season and will extend over three years in MI, NY, NJ, PA, VA and NC. The primary objective of the current project is to implement “whole farm” or “large area” pest management programs that are exclusively reliant on reduced risk and organophosphate alternative products and that will focus particular attention on reducing populations of the key, direct pests of apples, oriental fruit moth and codling moth. By increasing the area of contiguous orchard (ca. 30-50 acres) under treatment with mating disruption and reduced risk products, we predict that key pest populations will show steady decreases over consecutive seasons, compared with smaller (ca. 5-10 acres), isolated orchard blocks treated with reduced risk programs or larger blocks treated with standard programs. The pest management and economic benefits that should accrue from this approach may prove to be a key factor in the sustainability of tree fruit growers as they transition from heavy reliance on inexpensive and broad-spectrum organophosphate pesticides.
Commodities: Apples
Resources:
Disciplines: Horticultural Systems, Integrated Pest Management, Pesticides, Sustainable Agriculture
Audiences: Extension Agents, Producers, Researchers
