IPM Institute News: IPM in the Marketplace
October 2006
Volume 7 Issue No. 4
Contents
I. IQF Del Peru: Inspiring
Progress in Sustainable Agriculture
II.
Input Invited on New
Strategic Plan for School IPM
III.
Eco Apple Grower Featured in Magazine
IV.
2006 Gold Medal IPM Partner Award Winners Announced
V.
Growing Your Landscape Service Business the Natural Way
VI.
New IPM STAR Honorees
VII.
"International” IPM Symposium VI in
the Making
VIII.
Join the IPM Institute Today!
I. IQF Del Peru: Inspiring Progress in Sustainable Agriculture
In 2001, food service distribution giant SYSCO asked IQF del Peru, an artichoke and asparagus producer,
to see what they might do to reduce reliance on pesticides through an IPM approach.
SYSCO Quality Assurance director Shane Sampels had been impressed by IQF’s management and food
safety program, and was curious to see what IQF del Peru might accomplish in the IPM arena.
Led by Jorge Fernandini, managing director of
IQF, staff now employ a variety of IPM tactics including scouting. Trained workers use an aggressive,
systematic approach where key pest and beneficial populations are recorded at every growth stage of
the crop. These data allow them to monitor trends closely and react quickly to any pest outbreaks.
An on-farm laboratory produces beneficials
including lacewings, parasitic wasps, stink bugs and
minute pirate bugs. Light and color traps set up along field borders intercept pests moving in from
adjacent fields. Crops are irrigated exclusively with well water to eliminate weed seeds that often
contaminate the surface water sources formerly used for irrigating. IQF also transitioned to lower toxicity
fungicides for disease management.
From 2001 to 2005, IQF del Peru reduced insecticide
and fungicide use by 90%, and herbicides by 75%. This success provided inspiration for SYSCO’s new
Sustainable Agriculture initiative which includes an annual, third-party audit of supplier practices
including water, soil and energy conservation, and IPM. The audit was developed by the IPM Institute
with input from SYSCO and its suppliers. Now in its second year, more than 400,000 acres of canned and
frozen fruit and vegetable production are being impacted.
Learn more about IQF del Peru from Fernandini’s presentation to the Fifth National IPM Symposium
More on the SYSCO initiative
See other presentations given at the Fifth National IPM Symposium
Learn more about the Fifth National IPM
Symposium
II. Input Invited on New
Strategic Plan for School IPM
A national Strategic Plan is in development for
Integrated Pest Management (IPM) in Schools. This effort, funded the by USDA National IPM Program and
Regional IPM Centers, is needed to facilitate accelerated, coordinated efforts:
- Asthma is the number one cause of absences in
schools and is epidemic in the US.
- Pesticides and cockroaches are primary asthma
triggers.
- By the time our children reach adulthood, they
will have an average of 91 chemical residues in their bodies, fully one-fifth of which are pesticide-related,
and include known carcinogens, neurotoxins, reproductive toxins or endocrine disruptors.
- Many schools continue to use and store
hazardous (and sometimes illegal) pesticides, e.g.,
four of the first 30 school systems evaluated as part of the IPM STAR program since 2003 were found to
have legacy pesticides stored on school grounds including DDT.
- Many schools continue to have untrained and
uncertified staff applying pesticides, and ongoing problems with rodents, ants, cockroaches, birds and
other pests.
- School IPM professionals have documented how
to reduce pesticide use and pest complaints in schools by greater than 70%.
- We need to make that accomplishment the norm
in all of our school systems.
The plan document will join a library of Pest
Management Strategic Plans used by USDA, US EPA and other agencies and professionals as a
guide to stakeholder-identified priorities for research, education and regulation. These priorities can inform
investment decisions by these agencies and others, and generate ideas and projects for those working in
the field.
For a list of available plans, see http://www.ipmcenters.org/pmsp/pmsp_form.
cfm?usdaregion=National%20Site.For one example of a particularly well-done plan, see
www.ipmcenters.org/pmsp/pdf/CATableGrapes.pdf.
This school IPM plan will be only the second for a non-agricultural system, joining
an existing plan for rights-of-way IPM.
In addition to developing the plan, this process will
engage and improve coordination with key
organizations with a vested interest in improving the health and safety of our school children and staff. A
diverse group of invited professionals will be developing the first draft in October. This draft will
be circulated for review and comment in early November. Delivery of the completed plan is
anticipated to USDA before the end of this year.
If you would like to review the draft, please forward
your contact information to Rebecca.
III.
Eco Apple Grower Featured in Magazine
Clark Brothers Orchard is the focus of an in-depth
article in the October 2006 American Fruit Growers magazine. The small
family farm is a participant in Red Tomato's and the
IPM Institute's Eco Apple program.
Read the complete article here.
IV.
2006 Gold Medal IPM Partner Award Winners Announced
Four U.S. and four Canadian companies were honored
October 17, 2006, with the 2006 Gold Medal IPM Partner Award. These awards, presented by
Orkin and The IPM Institute of North America, recognize commercial facilities that have shown the
most commitment to Integrated Pest Management (IPM).
An awards jury of IPM experts selected the winning
facilities from a group of 62 nominees throughout the United States and Canada. The winners are:
United States:
-
Ample Industries
(Franklin, Ohio) – The leading supplier of nested paperboard cartons to the
restaurant and foodservice industries. www.ampleindustries.com
-
Endangered Species Chocolate
(Indianapolis, Ind.) – The best-selling brand of
natural chocolate in the natural foods category. Ten percent of net profits are donated to organizations
involved in the conservation of species, habitat and
humanity. www.chocolatebar.com
-
The Cheesecake Factory Bakery Incorporated
(Calabasas Hills, Calif.) – The leading
manufacturer of fine baked desserts. Provides more than 50 varieties of its signature cheesecakes and
other baked desserts to The Cheesecake Factory restaurants, as well as a variety of products to the
wholesale club segment, retail markets and
foodservice distributors.
-
Tree of Life (Bloomington, Ind.) – The nation’s
leading distributor of natural, organic, specialty, ethnic and gourmet food products.
www.treeoflife.com
Canada:
-
Cavendish Farms
(New Annan, Prince Edward Island) – A production facility for frozen
potato products. www.cavendishfarms.com
-
Ganong Bros. Ltd.
(St. Stephen, New Brunswick) – Founded in 1873, Ganong is Canada’s
oldest chocolate confectioner. www.ganong.com
-
High Liner Foods Inc. (Lunenburg, Nova
Scotia) – A processor and marketer of superior seafood and frozen pasta products in North America.
www.highlinerfoods.com
-
Maidstone Bakeries
(Brantford, Ontario) – A world-class, state-of-the-art manufacturing facility
for bakery goods.
For more information, see the
press release.
V. Growing your
Landscape Service Business the Natural Way
Is your landscape service business prepared for the
growing market for “natural” approaches? An
educational DVD can help you get ready.
“Growing Your Business the Natural Way” features
Chip Osborne, consultant and president of Osborne Organics. Osborne indicates it can take as little as
one season - not years and years- to transition a lawn from a chemical-intensive approach to organic
care if the right methods are followed.
Osborne recommends a soil test first, since the
health of the lawn is “all in the soil.” He advises
against applying any soil amendments without the test. For disease and pest management, Osborne
says the best defense is to optimize soil biology, applying compost where needed, rather than
chemical fertilizers and pesticides. Chemical applications can kill beneficial microbes that compete
against or prey on pest organisms, and help in natural nutrient cycling to feed grass plants. For
weed control, Osborne often recommends corn gluten, which has the added benefit of contributing
an 11% charge of nitrogen to the soil.
Deep, infrequent irrigation, higher mowing height, top
dressing with compost,overseeding and aeration are cultural methods
Osborne recommends. His approach reflects IPM principles - monitoring soil nutrients before amending,
a strong emphasis on cultural techniques and
applying inputs only when justified by sampling and monitoring. A key difference is exclusive use of
naturally derived inputs, with no synthetic chemical pesticides applied under Osborne's system.
Directed at lawn-care professionals, the DVD is also
informative to anyone interested in learning cultural approaches to turf management. The DVD was
produced by Grassroots Environmental Education in conjunction with their
Grassroots Healthy Lawn Program. To purchase, call Grassroots at
516 883-0887 or complete the form at http://www.ghlp.org/prof_ed.html.
Grassroots asks for a $5 donation for the DVD. New DVDs directed at homeowners and school districts are
scheduled for release by the end of this year.
VI. New IPM STAR Honorees
Two more facilities have achieved IPM STAR
certification:
Monroe-Woodbury Central School District,
Central Valley, New York:
One preventive measure the head groundskeeper takes to reduce reliance on herbicides is to let areas
along fence lines naturalize - with meadow plants or vines. Goalposts and bleachers on 20-plus athletic
fields are relocated each year to reduce compaction and improve turf health.
Fort Belvoir Child
Development and Youth Services Centers, Fairfax County, Virginia:
Fort Belvoir is the fifth childcare program in the US to earn the IPM STAR. The Centers, which serve more
than 700 children, have been following IPM protocols including inspection of food shipments and correcting
conditions conducive to pests for over 14 years. Participation by Army facilities in IPM STAR is
supported by the US Army Office of the Assistant Chief of Staff for Installation Management and the
US Army Environmental Center.
To date, 26 school systems have been evaluated and
20 certified, impacting more than 2 million school children.
Visit the IPM STAR website to learn
more.
VII.
"International” IPM Symposium VI in the Making
Fifty-two volunteers are working hard to bring you
the next IPM Symposium. The event is expected to be held during the final week of March, 2009, most
likely in Portland, OR. This event brings a revised name, “international” reflecting participation by IPM
professionals from 23 countries in 2006. Look for the new website coming next month.
Visit the website for the Fifth National IPM Symposium.
VIII. Join the IPM Institute Today!
Like what you’re reading? Join the many others who
contribute to the effort by becoming a member. Members receive IPM in the Marketplace editions and
help support our efforts to reduce hazards from both pests and pesticides, and improve public awareness
and appreciation for Integrated Pest Management. A basic membership is only $35 per year, click
here
for more information.
