Minor Crop Pest Management
(IR-4)
The Minor Crop Pest Management (IR-4) Program
is the principal public effort supporting
the registration of crop protection products
and biological pest control agents for approximately
$40 billion minor crop industry. This industry
represents 40 percent of the total farm crop
value in the United States. IR-4 is a highly
effective effort between the state agricultural
experiment stations, CSREES, and the USDA
Agricultural Research Service (ARS).
This national effort identifies needs by
a network of users, commodity groups, and
state university and federal researchers.
IR-4 provides the national leadership, coordination,
and focal point for obtaining data to support
the regulatory clearance through the Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA) for crop protection
chemicals and biological control agents for
specialty food crops such as fruits and vegetables
as well as nonfood crops like turf and ornamentals.
In most cases, the agricultural chemical
industry cannot economically justify the
time and expense required to conduct the
necessary research for products with limited
market potential. With assistance from IR-4,
registration-related costs are manageable,
and producers of a large number of small
acreage crops such as vegetables, fruits,
nuts, herbs, and other specialized crops
have access to necessary pest control products.
For 2002, IR-4 submitted 117 data packages
to EPA that supported 400 new minor food-use
clearances. The Food Use component of IR-4
continues to have a high productivity which,
according to EPA, supports more than 50 percent
of all EPA pesticide registrations. Since
the program's inception in 1963, IR-4 has
been granted more than 6,500 food-use clearances.
For ornamental crops in 2002, IR-4 obtained
482 ornamental clearances for crop protection
chemicals. Since 1977, IR-4 has assisted
with the registration of more than 9,920
crop protection chemicals and biological
pest control agents on nursery stock, flowers,
and turf grass. The ornamental industry accounts
for more than 25 percent, or $12 billion,
of the total minor crop value in the United
States.
Biopesticides have been an important IR-4
thrust since 1982. EPA granted 21 IR-4 supported
biopesticide food-use clearances in 2001
(more than 220 since the program began).
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