The Food Crop Program facilitates the regulatory approval of safe pest management solutions for specialty crop growers. This work is necessary as insects, diseases, weeds, invasive species, and resistance to existing tools continue to increase. The IR-4 Project collaborates with the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA), Agricultural Research Service (ARS), the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), land grant universities, the agrochemical industry, commodity groups, state liaison representatives and growers. As a result of this partnership, growers have more tools for safely and effectively managing pests on fruit, vegetables, herbs, nuts, and other specialty crops.

The Food Crop Program include these areas: 

• Residue & Product Performance
  • The Residue program and supporting Product Performance program generate residue, efficacy, and crop safety data required by product manufacturers and regulatory agencies to support registration of a single product for the management of a specific pest on a specific crop.
  • Depending on the requirements needed to support the registration of a specific pesticide, these programs can generate:
    • Residue data aimed at establishing a tolerance for the crop
    • Product performance data aimed at assessing the efficacy and crop safety of the pesticide on the pest and crop of interest respectively

  

• Integrated Solutions
  • The Integrated Solutions (IS) program evaluates diverse pest management strategies and technologies that specialty crop growers can incorporate into existing crop protection programs to meet their complex needs.
  • Potential technologies include conventional pesticides, biopesticides, organic solutions, and other alternative control tools such as pheromones, traps, baits, and more.
  • Integrated Solutions explores the synergistic use of various products, practices and technologies to better equip growers' pest management toolboxes.  When effective strategies are identified by IS research, IR-4 pursues registrations of new products, uses and applications.
  • Research Areas includes:
    • Pest Problems Without Solutions
      • Growers of specialty crops often lack effective tools against chronic or emerging pests. The IS program screens and identifies new technologies that could be used to manage these pests.
    • Pest Resistance Management
      • An increasing number of pests are developing resistance to technologies currently available on the market. The IS program offers support to specialty crop growers by screening, identifying, and supporting the registration of tools that utilize different methods for managing pests.
    • Organic Food Production
      • Organic specialty crop growers are required by the U.S. Department of Agriculture National Organic Program to meet national standards for their crops to be considered organic. IR-4’s IS Program assesses existing and emerging organic pest management technologies.
    • Residue Mitigation
      • Some countries have lowered their Maximum Residue Limits (MRLs) for certain pest management technologies, resulting in limitations on what crops American growers can export. The IS program assesses different product use patterns and rotations to ensure that MRLs do not exceed updated limits.
• Biopesticide Regulatory Support
  • The objective of the Biopesticide Regulatory Support program is to further the development and registration of biopesticides for use in pest management systems on specialty crops or for specialty uses on major crops.
  • Biopesticides include microorganisms, plant extracts, natural products and biotechnology.
• International Programs
  • IR-4 collaborates with regulatory agencies across the globe to harmonize MRLs.
  • Conduct joint residue studies with similar entities (Pest Management Center Canada)
  • Bridge the gap of international differences in standards for pesticide residues.
  • Remove barriers to trade in agricultural products and support adoption of pest management solutions across borders.
  • Find more about our International Programs here.