IPM Institute News: IPM in the Marketplace
February 2008
Volume 9 Issue No. 1
Contents
I. IPM and
Sustainable Ag Certifiers
Experience Continued Growth in 2007
II.
Program
Proposals Requested for Sixth International IPM Symposium
III.
Going
Green is Easy with
Green Shield CertifiedTM
IV.
New
Website Provides IPM Teaching Tool for Schools
V.
Join the IPM Institute Today!
I. IPM and Sustainable Ag Certifiers
Experience Continued Growth in 2007
Thirty-percent of
consumers look for products labeled as “eco-friendly,"
according to a 2008 survey
of 22,000 U.S. consumers conducted by Information
Resources, Inc. of
Chicago, Illinois. These
consumers have a growing array of sustainably-certified products
to choose from including those produced using IPM practices.
Certification organizations incorporating IPM in their
standards reported significant increases in the number of acres
certified last year.
Five programs-
the Forest Stewardship Council, Rainforest Alliance, Food
Alliance, Red Tomato’s Eco-Apple and Protected Harvest –
reported certifying more than 28 million U.S. acres and 233
million acres worldwide in 2007.
Products from wood to bananas to potatoes wear eco-labels
from these programs, signifying that production was evaluated by
independent third-parties against specific criteria including IPM.
Forest
Stewardship Council (FSC) accredited certifiers, including
Rainforest Alliance, have more than doubled the number of U.S.
forest product acres certified over the past five years, from nine
million in 2002 to 23.3 million in 2007. Total acres certified in
some 57 countries tripled over the same time period, growing from
77 million in 2002 to 232 million last year.
Rainforest
Alliance’s Sustainable
Agriculture Network (SAN) certifies IPM-produced goods from
outside the U.S. Based
in New York City, SAN certifies coffee, tea, bananas, cocoa and
citrus exports that support economies, cultures and environments
in developing countries. In
2007, the program certified 940,000 acres in 18 countries, an
increase of 375,000 acres from the prior year.
While sales data are not tracked, consumer purchases of
certified coffee were estimated at 91.3 million pounds last year.
Food Alliance,
the largest US certifier of dairy, fruits and vegetables, beef and
other products also achieved record growth last year, certifying
an additional million acres of production and bringing their total
to 5 million acres. Food
Alliance is celebrating its tenth anniversary this year.
The website at www.foodalliance.org
includes a grower-friendly assessment tool for comparing
management practices with best practices included in the
organization’s standards.
Though tiny in
comparison, the Northeast Eco-Apple program operated by Red
Tomato, a non-profit marketing agent based in Massachusetts,
doubled the number of growers enrolled in the program last year.
Over 700 acres in 12 orchards now meet the program’s
advanced IPM standards.
In 2007, Protected
Harvest certified 4,220 acres of Wisconsin Healthy Grown
Potatoes and 7,680 acres of California winegrapes.
Protected Harvest aims to develop standards for 20 new
crops over the next four years, and is also adding new
environmental performance categories to their certification
including wildlife habitat, ecosystem health and air quality
standards.
Finally, SYSCO’s
sustainable ag/IPM initiative for processed fruit and
vegetable crops also grew this past year.
The program does not include certification or an eco-label,
but does require an annual third-party audit of producer and
processor practices. Nearly
600,000 acres of production in the US and several other countries
were evaluated in 2007 for practices including IPM and soil, water
and energy conservation.
For links to many
of these programs and more visit
http://www.ipminstitute.org/links.htm.
II. Program
Proposals Requested for Sixth International IPM Symposium
The
Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) recently reported that
the single largest Farm Bill conservation investment, the
Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP), has room for
improvement in helping farmers adopt IPM practices.
The program committee for
the Sixth International IPM Symposium is now accepting session
proposals for the event to be held March
24–26, 2009 at the Oregon Convention Center in
Portland. Session formats include mini-symposia, workshops and
brainstorming sessions. A call
for poster submissions will be announced at a later date.
“Transcending
Boundaries” is the overall theme. Proposals are encouraged to
address IPM across disciplines internationally and in agriculture,
the marketplace and urban settings.
Plenary speakers include:
-
Aziz Lagnaoui, World Bank IPM
specialist, will address transcending international
boundaries.
-
Janjo deHaan, Wangeningen Research
Center, The Netherlands, will share expertise on IPM in
multifunctional cropping systems.
-
Pierce Jones, director of the Program
for Resource Efficient Communities at the University of
Florida, will discuss incorporating IPM practices into
planning and establishing new communities.
-
Sara J. Scherr, director of
Ecoagriculture Partners, will present an international
partnership to promote increased productivity jointly with
enhanced natural biodiversity and ecosystem services in
agricultural landscapes.
The program committee looks forward to
receiving program proposals meeting the following criteria:
- Mini-symposia
should have a broad interest with estimated audiences of
150-200 individuals.
- Workshop
sessions will be more focused with estimated audiences of
25-75 people.
- Brainstorming
discussions will likely be topic specific attracting 20 to 30
attendees.
Mini-symposia, workshops, and
brainstorming discussions will be approximately two hours in
duration.
The number of sessions and posters
accepted is limited due to space constraints. The program planning
committee will review proposals and try to accommodate as many as
possible.
Session proposals must be submitted
online at http://www.ipmcenters.org/ipmsymposium09/
by April 18, 2008. Suggestions sent prior to this
announcement must be resubmitted via the website to be considered
by the program committee.
If you have questions regarding the
format or development of the program, please contact program
committee co-chairs Margaret Appleby (email or
613-475-5850), Robert Hedlund (email or
202-712-4188) or Greta Schuster (email or
361-595-4116).
Links
Visit the Sixth International
IPM Symposium website.
III.
Going Green is Easy with Green
Shield Certified™
Green Shield Certification
sets IPM practitioners and facilities apart as truly green,
verified by an on-site audit. The program, created by the IPM
Institute, requires prevention-based approaches that minimize
pesticide use and hazards by focusing on correcting the conditions
that lead to pest problems. Certified practitioners use
non-chemical approaches first and the least amount of least-toxic
pesticides only when required to provide acceptable results.
The green industry is a
growing market, with two out of three consumers valuing
‘green’ qualities of products and services, according to a
2007 survey by Harris Interactive, commissioned by the National
Pest Management Association. Green Shield Certification ensures
effective pest management while reducing health and environmental
hazards, especially important in sensitive environments including
hospitals, nursing homes and schools. Many local and state
governments have adopted green building practices.
The US Green Building Council’s LEED program awards
points for IPM.
Luis Agurto, president of
PESTEC, San Francisco, CA, the first company to be certified,
reports "Green Shield Certified gives my customers
third-party assurance that what we say is what we do. It tells
them we're a cutting-edge pest control service provider."
Pest management service
providers can certify their entire company, or simply a service
they will offer to clients looking for a green approach. The
certification process is entirely confidential and begins with an
on-site evaluation by an IPM professional.
Fees are arranged on a
sliding scale based on sales of the certified service. Renewal
requires a brief annul update from the service provider with an
on-site re-evaluation every three years.
Green Shield Certified was officially
launched in September 2007. The following companies have been
certified:
- Assured Environments, New York, NY
- Atlantic Pest
Solutions Companies, Kennebunkport, ME
- Diehard Exterminating, New York, NY
- Eden Advanced Pest
Technologies, Olympia, WA
- Elite Pest Management, Roseville, MI
- EnviroSafe, Wyoming, MI
- Magic Exterminating, Flushing,
NY
- PESTEC,
San Francisco, CA
- Suburban Exterminating, Smithtown,
NY
Pest management providers and
facilities interested in pursuing Green Shield Certification are
invited to contact Katie Mulholland toll-free at 888 476-7453 or
by email.
More information on the program is available at www.greenshieldcertified.org.
IV.
New
Website Provides IPM Teaching Tool for Schools
Did you know that a
cockroach can travel five feet per second and live up to one week
without its head? These
interesting facts come straight from a lesson plan for grades K
through 3, created by Orkin for teachers. The lesson materials, based on National Science Standards
and Best Practice Instructional Strategies, were reviewed by an
advisory council including IPM experts from Penn State, the
University of Arizona and the IPM Institute, along with
SimplySmart, a team of educational professionals.
Twenty-eight lesson plans
designed for grades K through 6 are available on a new website
called Junior
Pest Investigators. The
curricula aim to help teachers and students better understand the
biology and ecology of organisms that can become pests under the
right (or wrong!) circumstances, and to appreciate the benefits of
an IPM approach. Resources
include grading rubrics, quizzes and assessment tools.
V. 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.
