Growers in study use less pesticide

BURNT HILLS, N.Y. (AP) -- From the time the buds swell until the boughs sag with apples, Jerry Knight uses an arsenal of chemicals -- about two dozen in all -- to curb mites, maggots, leafrollers and other invaders.
Knight, a third-generation grower, has seen the selection of weapons shift over the last 40 years from chlorinated hydrocarbons such as DDT, banned in the United States in 1972, to an array of organophosphates derived from the nerve gas of World War II.
Today, the shape of things to come is evident in an assortment of sticky red spheres, yellow strips, orange twist-ties and white paper tents dangling from branches in Knight's orchard. They are traps and lures, designed to monitor insect populations or disrupt mating.
Growers are using the tools as part of a new, more narrowly targeted war on bugs, as regulators and consumers press for reductions in the use of broad-spectrum pesticides that pose ecological and health risks.
Knight's 100-acre orchard in Burnt Hills, 20 miles northwest of Albany, is one of several dozen participating in a five-year, seven-state study of integrated pest management, or IPM, for apples and peaches. It's funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Risk Avoidance and Mitigation Program, or RAMP.
Besides New York, researchers and growers in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, North Carolina, Michigan and Virginia are participating in the RAMP study.
What's changing
For almost 40 years, growers have relied on organophosphate insecticides such as Guthion and Imidan to control pests. But use of organophosphates is likely to be sharply restricted.
The Food Quality Protection Act of 1996 required the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to review all pesticides under guidelines that place special emphasis on foods eaten by children -- with apples at the top of the list. The first group of pesticides being reviewed is the organophosphates, followed by carbamates and pyrethroids.
IPM programs for apples are probably the most complex of all crop programs, said Art Agnello, a Cornell University entomologist who is one of the RAMP study's principal investigators.
That's because of the large variety of pests and diseases afflicting tree fruits, the long growing season, the long life of trees compared to annual field crops, and the inability to rotate orchard crops.
Many growers use an IPM approach with traditional broad-spectrum pesticides, tailoring their spraying program to reduce the amount of chemicals used and avoid killing beneficial insects.
"IPM is more effective and less expensive than traditional methods because it involves making applications with better timing at the right rates," said Walter Blackler of Apple Acres orchard near Syracuse.
"We used to spray according to the calendar. Now, we scout for insects, use traps, monitor weather and spray only when indicated."
The RAMP study focuses on new, highly selective pesticides, also called soft pesticides, and mating disruption through the use of pheromones, or insect sex attractants.
In 2002, the first year of the study, the effectiveness was similar for the two approaches in New York orchards, Agnello said. Costs for standard spraying programs averaged about $150 per acre, compared with about $200 per acre for the RAMP program, he said.