March 2005
IPM Branding
A label that identifies a fruit or vegetable as grown in an environmentally sensitive manner may soon appear in supermarkets across the state of New York. A specialist in integrated pest management (IPM) at Cornell University's Agricultural Experiment Station in Geneva, was quoted as saying, "It will help farmers capture consumer demand for food grown that way. Because the food supply chain is increasingly concerned about traceability, growers and processors are taking more care to document pesticide use."
With integrated pest management, both natural and synthetic fertilizer and pesticides can be used, but are applied at optimal times and threshold levels for pests so that use is minimized. Organic growing methods allow only the use of natural pesticides. It isn't clear yet which supermarkets will carry foods with the IPM label. Wegman's Food Markets became the first in the state in 1996 to carry some frozen vegetables and locally grown seasonal food with an IPM label. Birds Eye Foods, with headquarters in Rochester, is developing a line of vegetables that could carry the IPM label under its own name and for supermarket brands. This season, the company could have carrots, peas and some beans available, said the assistant director of the IPM program at Cornell. (Watertown Daily Times, 2/1/05).
