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Northeast IPM Report Tackles Food Safety - March 1998
March 3, 1998
UNIVERSITY PARK, PA -- Toxic insect traps disguised as apples and the use of bees to transport a beneficial fungus to strawberry plants are just two of the innovative ways the Northeast Region is meeting new challenges brought on by the Food Quality Protection Act (FQPA).
These and other success stories are documented in the latest edition of the Regional Integrated Pest Management (IPM) report, "IPM in the Northeast Region: Rising to the FQPA Challenge."
Signed into law in 1996, the FQPA promises to substantially change the way food safety is determined and pesticides are regulated. As the FQPA puts the pressure on growers to produce safer, high-quality food without fewer pesticides, IPM will become increasingly important to meet the new requirements.
The report sites examples of successful uses of IPM in a wide variety of crops. One cucumber grower in Maryland who is a supplier of Vlasic pickles altered production practices and virtually eliminated the use of pesticides. As a result, the pickle industry has decreased all insecticide treatments.
In another example, an apple grower in Massachusetts developed a toxic trap that attracts and kills apple maggot flies, the most devastating summer insect pest of apples in the Northeast. To the pest, the traps look, smell and taste even more like an apple than the real thing. However, each "apple" is a sticky sphere coating a starch-base that is laced with a pesticide. The use of the traps could reduce pesticide use to 1/2,000 of the conventional rate.
Meanwhile, in New York, strawberry growers are using bees to transport a beneficial fungus that combats gray mold on strawberries. By attaching a small amount of the beneficial fungus to the exit of each hive in the field, bees are forced to walk through it on their way out. These avid pollinators then carry up to 1,000 spores each and deposit them on open strawberry flowers. As a result, growers are seeing gray mold-free strawberries 25 to 35 percent larger than berries sprayed the traditional way.
The report also highlights some of the ways that IPM programs throughout the region are using biological control to manage pests. One such pest looks like a beautiful plant with purple flowers but is actually a noxious weed. Purple loosestrife has spread rapidly throughout the continent since its introduction in the early 19th century and has displaced native plant species, with concurrent loss of wildlife as food and room disappear. Many threatened and endangered species can be affected.
However, in Connecticut, scientists have introduced into two species of beetles that feed exclusively on purple loosestrife. Successful, permanent establishment of these natural predators should gradual reduce purple loosestrife and help native species rebound.
Often, integrated pest management is only associated with agricultural settings. However, the Northeast Region report points out that IPM programs are used in urban and ornamental settings as well.
For example, in Pennsylvania, the Southeast IPM Research Group is developing an integrated pest management program in commercial nurseries, parks, residential and commercial landscapes throughout the greater Philadelphia area. The group is partially comprised of end users such as producers and consultants, who have reported that due the program, they are no longer practicing protective spraying. Most of the participating nurseries and greenhouses have instituted comprehensive IPM programs, and the home and ground service industry is not far behind.
Copies of the Northeast Region IPM report can be obtained by contacting Kristie Auman, Pennsylvania IPM Program, The Pennsylvania State University, 505 Ag Sciences & Industries Building, University Park PA 16802, (814)863-1815.
IPM is a crop production system that combines a wide array of physical, biological and chemical approaches to manage pest insects, diseases, weeds and rodents by methods that are safe, profitable and environmentally compatible. The Pennsylvania IPM program is a collaboration between Penn State University and the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture whose goal is to promote integrated pest management in both agricultural and non-agricultural situations.