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Strategic Agricultural Initiative
Pesticide Environmental Stewardship 2005 Report
EPA is phasing out some toxic and persistent pesticides currently used in food production. The Strategic Agricultural Initiative (SAI) is EPA's program to help farmers transition to less-toxic farming practices, while adopting new biologically based pesticide products. The program comprises one agricultural specialist in each of EPA's 10 Regions who works with farmers to improve upon traditional pest management approaches and measures the impact of those changes on the environment and human health. The work of the Regional specialists is led by a national program coordinator in the EPA's Office of Pesticide Programs.
In 2005, SAI provided technical assistance and $1.5 million in grant funds for projects that:
- increase adoption of sustainable agricultural production practices in partnership with producers, commodity groups, and research organizations;
- develop field-generated data that contribute to regulatory decisions impacting specialty crop production, worker safety, and the environment; and
- employ performance measures to ensure projects contribute to improving environmental conditions and human health.
Using project results from its grants database, SAI implemented reduced-risk pest management strategies on over 780,000 acres of farmland. This led to a reduction of at least 30 percent in the use of highly toxic pesticides on those acres. In the next five years, as SAI works to implement similar practices more broadly in the field, these reduced risk pest management strategies could impact nearly 4 million acres of farmland, thereby improving the safety and sustainability of American agriculture. Highlights of SAI regional projects are identified in the EPA document, The Strategic Agricultural Initiative: Results Across the Nation (see SAI Grants).
In partnership with American Farmland Trust (a nonprofit conservation organization), SAI created a valuable resource, the Web-based SAI Toolbox. The SAI Toolbox features a searchable SAI grant database. The creation of this database marks one of the first times a non-enforcement unit of EPA has quantified the impact and outcomes of a targeted grant program. Project outcomes captured in the database serve as the principal accountability resource for identifying the effectiveness of the SAI program, and these outcomes are used by EPA staff in making pesticide regulatory decisions.
In 2004, SAI collaborated with USDA to introduce mutual project data elements into SAI and USDA databases. This will allow for data and outcomes from projects funded by the two agencies to be analyzed to determine nationwide impacts, and USDA and EPA can together measure the regional and national impacts of federal pesticide programs.
In December 2004, the SAI team received a bronze medal for Commendable Service for contributing to OPP’s Strategic Agricultural Initiative National Grant Program, which supports model agricultural partnerships to demonstrate and encourage transition away from the highest-risk pesticides.
SAI Grants
Through SAI, EPA provides technical assistance and grants to develop and adopt farm management practices and products that are safe and effective. SAI grants help growers transition to lower-risk pesticides and alternatives and enable EPA to develop extensive and effective communication and partnerships with pesticide users, educators, and the research community. SAI supports EPA’s goal of protecting public health and the environment from the risks pesticides may pose. EPA is able to integrate sustainable agriculture results or outcomes achieved through SAI into its pesticide registration and reregistration process.
Region 1 (Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont)
- SAI Grant Helped Cranberry Grower Reduce
Herbicide Costs By Over 90 Percent
- Use of Long-term and Short-term
Flooding for Weed Control in Commercial
Cranberry Production
This project involved implementation and evaluation of a cultural strategy for dodder (parasitic weed) control. The project covered 1,400 acres, the largest single acreage of cranberry cultivation in southeastern Massachusetts, and evaluated weed suppression effects of short- and long-term floods. Results provided data to update the cranberry growers’ major information resource (Cranberry Chart Book: Management Guide for Massachusetts). These data also will be shared through newsletters, grower meetings, and the Cranberry Experiment Station Web site. (Project Period: March 2002 – December 2004) - Result: In 1998, the grower applied herbicides to 1,034 acres to control dodder; however, after the use of short- and long-term floods to suppress weeds, that number dropped in 2003 to 112 acres – a reduction of 89 percent. (The herbicides were Kerb – used via an emergency exemption – and Casoron.) The growers’ annual pesticide costs dropped 94 percent, to $5,000 from $86,000 – a savings of $81,000.
- Use of Long-term and Short-term
Flooding for Weed Control in Commercial
Cranberry Production
Region 2 (New Jersey, New York, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands)
- Biological Control of the Mexican Bean
Beetle Using the Parasitic Wasp.
- The New Jersey Department of Agriculture mass-produced a larval parasitoid for field release and control of the Mexican Bean Beetle in approximately 86,000 acres of New Jersey soybeans. The goal of the program was to maintain Mexican Bean Beetle (MBB) populations below economic thresholds. This program also reduced the need for chemical control of MBB in snap beans and lima beans. (Project Period: October 2002 – September 2003)
- Result: The use of approximately 16,000 pounds of active ingredients was reduced, with savings of nearly $17 per acre (86,000 acres).
Region 3 (Delaware, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia)
- Integrated Disease Management System for Reducing Fungicide Use in Watermelon
- The grantee is identifying reduced-risk fungicides and biofungicide alternatives to control the most common and severe watermelon diseases, and examining the efficacy of an integrated disease management system that incorporates green manure and the disease-forecasting program, Melcast. The goal is to reduce fungicide use and educate growers about fungicide alternatives and the value of an integrated management system to control watermelon diseases. (Project Period: April 2004 – March 2006)
- Result: Growers farming 4,900 acres in Delaware and Maryland are expected to transition from chlorothalonil and mancozeb to integrated applications of biopesticides with chlorothalonil, resulting in a potential reduction of 22,000 pounds of active ingredient.
Region 4 (Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee)
- Workshops to Develop a Strategic Research and Education Initiative for
Innovative Integrated Pest Management Practices (IPM) in Southern Sweet
Potato Production Systems
- This collaborative, multi-stakeholder, strategic initiative for innovative IPM research and education enabled the southern sweet potato industry to cost-effectively reduce reliance on certain chemicals. (Project Period: October 2001 – September 2002)
- Result: The grantee received $2 million from the USDA’s Risk Avoidance and Mitigation Program for an IPM research program for sweet potatoes. Research is expected to lead to the development of reduced-risk pest management tools to replace organophosphates and carbamates.
Region 5 (Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, and Wisconsin)
- Pesticide Risk Reduction in Wisconsin Apple
Production
- Through the development of farmer networks in distinct growing regions of the state, this project increases support services to Wisconsin apple growers. Participating growers assessed their application of IPM and received personalized coaching to reduce identified potential risks. Collection of pesticide risk-reduction data may be used by growers to apply for certification from third-party certifiers such as Protected Harvest or the Midwest Food Alliance, or to list their product as an eco-apple in direct marketing efforts. (Project Period: March 2004 – April 2006)
- Result: Over a two-year project period, a minimum of 10 growers on 320 acres are expected to reduce by 50 percent their toxicity units, and increase the use of IPM practices by 30 percent.
Region 6 (Arkansas, Louisiana, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Texas)
- Using Satellite-Based Positioning System to Identify and
Manage Populations of Plant Parasitic Nematodes in Cotton Global
Positioning
- Using Global Positioning System (GPS) topography and soil texture data to identify population densities of root know nematodes, growers applied variable rates of nematicides to control nematodes in an efficient and effective manner. There are 90,000 acres of cotton in Tensas Parish, LA, some grown on clay soils. The GPS method being utilized for nematode control in cotton had an impact only on the acreage with clay soils. Three farms (or farm groups) implemented this technology and have equipped their tractors and planting equipment with GPS. These farms account for 10,000 acres of cotton on clay soils. The insecticide impacted is Temik (an organophosphate). (Project Period: July 2002 – June 2003)
- Result: The use of Temik was eliminated from nearly 10,000 acres, approximately 8 percent of the cotton acreage in Tensas Parish, with a potential of impacting 35 percent of the acreage in the future.
Region 7 (Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, and Nebraska)
- Implementation of IPM to Reduce Health,
Environmental, and Economic Risks in Agricultural Watersheds in North
Missouri
- Grantee demonstrated how IPM can improve profitability for corn and soybean producers while decreasing the potential risk of pesticide, nutrient, and sediment contamination of water runoff. Producers were educated about IPM through direct, one-on-one farm technical assistance and field-scale demonstrations of selected production practices, new technologies, and management strategies. (Project Period: October 2002 – September 2004)
- Result: Smithville and Mark Twain Lakes were removed from the Clean Water Act 303(d) impaired waters list for atrazine – with atrazine levels significantly decreased (from 6 ppb to 1 ppb).
Region 8 (Colorado, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Utah, and Wyoming)
- Innovative Precision Management Strategies
to Reduce Pesticides and Nitrogen Loading into Soil for Sustainable
Agriculture Production
- Colorado State University is collaborating with corn growers and a multi-disciplinary/multi-agency team to monitor, quantify, and model the environmental benefits of precision management strategies. With precision crop management, growers can target pesticide applications to specific management zones identified within a field. Such an effort allows growers to effectively manage weeds, European corn borer, western corn rootworm, and Banks grass mite while reducing applications of pesticides. (Project Period: October 2003 – September 2007)
- Result: At least 200 growers on 250,000 acres in the western Great Plains region are expected to reduce applications of atrazine, nitrogen, dimethenamid, acetochlor, and glyphosate by up to 50 percent and increase use of precision agricultural practices by 50 percent in six years.
Region 9 (Arizona, California, Hawaii, Nevada, And The Territories Of Guam And American Samoa)
- An Integrated Approach to Reduce
the Use of Pesticides under FQPA Review in California’s Sonoma
County Grape Production
- To reduce the use of nine pesticides under FQPA review in Sonoma County grape production, growers increased the use of reduced-risk or organic pesticides when treatments were needed. There was also an emphasis on increasing grower participation in IPM, including organic production, and implementing the California Association of Winegrape Growers and Wine Institute Code of Sustainable Practices. (Project Period: October 2003 – September 2004)
- Result: From 1999 to 2002, use of these nine pesticides decreased by 35 percent in quantity and by 24 percent in the number of acres treated. Grape acres increased 16 percent over the same period.
Region 10 (Alaska, Idaho, Oregon, and Washington)
- Hispanic Orchardist IPM
Education Program
- Forty-seven Hispanic owner/operators of tree fruit orchards participated in a program to increase their integrated pest management skills. As a result, many of the growers are now using mating disruption for codling moth and basing their applications of lower-risk pesticides on monitoring for orchard pests. By bringing critical information to these Hispanic growers in their native language, this project is expected to increase the adoption of IPM in the western region. (Project period: April 2004 – March 2006)
- Result: Forty growers are expected to reduce
organophosphate insecticide use on 400 acres by 50 percent and
increase use of IPM tactics by 50
percent.