February 2006

Pesticide Potpourri

  • Personnel of the Florida Fruit and Vegetable Association (FFVA), FDACS, and the Pesticide Information Office are teaming together for the 2006 WPS Road Show, which will be stopping in seven locations throughout the state.  All citrus, vegetable, and other related commodity producers, farm managers, crew leaders, and other related groups/individuals are encouraged to attend as specific requirements will be discussed on how to conform to the current standard. 

Dates are: 

  • Homestead - 3/6/06, 

  • Belle Glade and Palm Beach - 3/7/06,  

  • Immokalee and Palmetto - 3/8/06, and  

  • Bartow and Hastings - 3/9/06.   

Please contact your nearest Extension office for times and meeting sites.  (FFVA Memo, 2/7/06).

  • Odors from foods ranging from garlic and onions to ginger and strawberries may be nutritional signals that the human nose has learned to recognize.  Researchers Stephen A. Goff and Harry J. Klee reported in Science that, "Studies of flavor preferences and aversions suggest that flavor perception may be linked to the nutritional or health value" of foods.  Flavor is complex and uniquely challenging to plant breeders, they note, and as a result has not been a high priority.  The story explains that Klee and Goff analyzed two types of tomato, the wild cerasiforme and the commercially grown Flora-Duke.  Except for one chemical that also affects color, the sugars, organic acids and volatile compounds associated with tomato flavor were reduced in the commercial product.  For example, one of the volatile compounds associated with the "tomato" or "grassy" flavor is called cis-3-hexenal, which is also an indicator of fatty acids that are essential to the human diet.  They found that the wild tomato contained more than three times the amount of that chemical than the cultivated version.  Two other contributors to tomato flavor, 2- and 3-methylbutanal, are indicators of the presence of essential amino acids and are also three times more common in the wild tomato.  In addition to tomatoes, those chemicals are also important constituents of the flavors of apple, strawberry, bread, cheese, wine and beer.  Goff and Klee also noted that the scent compounds produced in many spices are associated with health properties.  (AP, 2/9/06).
  • Global sales in certified organic food products hit 27.8 billion dollars in 2004, with double digit growth the United States and Germany, the world's top two markets.  The International Federation of Agriculture Movements released results including: total sales worldwide grew nine percent in 2004, and are expected to top 30 billion dollars in 2006.  At the end of 2005, almost 31 million hectares in the world were managed organically, up from 26 million a year earlier.  The global markets for organic food stuffs continues to be dominated by Europe and the United States, which account for 96 percent of overall sales.  Europe remains the largest organic food and drink market in the world, with sales reaching 13.7 billion dollars in 2004.  The growth rate, however, slowed slightly to five percent, suggesting North America will supplant Europe within the next two years.  The United States was the fastest expanding mature market for organic food, growing to 12.2 billion dollars in 2004, an increase of over 14 percent over the previous year.  Germany was the top European consumer in 2004, buying 4.2 billion dollars worth of organic food products in 2004.  (Agence France Press, 1/22/06).
  • USDA’s APHIS has proposed to amend its regulations governing importation of fruits and vegetables in order to allow pink and red tomatoes grown in approved registered production sites in Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Panama to be imported into the U.S. without treatment.  (Federal Register, 2/6/06). 
  • A new soybean variety (95M60) produced by Pioneer Hi-Bred will be in cultivation this summer and available in fall.  It will provide southern growers protection against multiple races (1, 2, 3, 5, and 14) of soybean cyst nematode.  The annual loss to this pest is estimated at $1.5 billion in the U.S.  It also has good root-knot nematode resistance and very strong soybean aphid antibiosis.  (Pioneer, 1/19/06).
  • Renessen LLC has recently announced a high lysine content corn for the livestock industry.  Sold under the name Mavera®, it is the first crop-based quality trait produced through biotechnology for the animal feed industry.  It is expected to reduce cost and improve efficiency for animal producers.  It will be sold through the Asgrow® brand of seed.  It will always be produced under an identity preservation system.  Renessen is a joint venture between Monsanto and Cargill.  (Monsanto, 2/7/06).
  • After first year results demonstrated that one in five Washington farm workers had a significant drop in cholinesterase activity (see February 2005 Chemically Speaking), the second year results reflect a reduction in exposure.  The exposure threshold for handling pesticides was reduced from 50 hours in any consecutive 30-day period to 30 hours for 2005.  The agency responsible for the program expected to see more employees tested with lowered thresholds, but the number declined from 655 in 2004 to 611 in 2005, and the number of employees with a depression greater than 20 percent was half that in 2004.  The agency believes this is due to greater attention to pesticide handling practices.  (Chemical Regulation Reporter, 1/20/06). 
  • In a breakout of the benefits of pesticides to agriculture, the CropLife Foundation has determined that Florida receives about nine times the return on investment (ROI) for herbicides, and 32 times the ROI on fungicides.  Over 90 percent of citrus, cotton, peanut strawberry, sugarcane, and tomato are grown with herbicides in Florida, and the $96 million spent on weed control provides $841 million in benefits.  In addition to the weed control component which considers production and value, herbicide use also reduces erosion (140 million pounds) and the need for hand labor (100,000 workers).  Over 95 percent of citrus, cucumber, pepper, tomato, and watermelon are treated with fungicides in Florida, and the $59 million spent on disease control provides almost two billion dollars worth of produce.  (CropLife Foundation presentation by N. Reigner). 
  • Several new pieces of legislation are pending that will affect pest control operators (PCOs) - probably in a positive manner.  The FDACS has become aware of an issue that has primarily to do with home inspectors.  It appears that some home inspectors have crossed over the line and are now doing wood-destroying organism (WDO) inspection, which must be done by a PCO or someone under a licensed PCO.  Additionally, under a section of the law referring to mosquito misting systems, unless a mosquito control district or contractor for the district is doing the installation, a license is not required.  For all others, a PCO license will be required for residential installation.  (PCO, January, 2006).
  • Satellite images are now increasingly turning up in courtrooms across the nation as the USDA’s Risk Management Agency cracks down on farmers involved in crop insurance fraud.  The Farm Service Agency, which helps farmers get loans and payments THEOS satellite illustration (EADS)from a number of its programs, also uses satellite imaging to monitor compliance.  Across government and private industry alike, satellite imaging technology is being used in water rights litigation and in prosecution of environmental cases ranging from a hog confinement facility's violations of waste discharge regulations to injury damage lawsuits stemming from herbicide applications.  The technology is also used to monitor the forestry and mining industries.  An agricultural economist at Kansas State University was quoted as saying, "A lot of farmers would be shocked at the detail you can tell.  What it does is keep honest folks honest."  Satellite technology, which takes images at roughly eight-day intervals, can be used to monitor when farmers plant their acreage, how they irrigate them and what crops they grow.  If anomalies are found in a farm's insurance claim, investigators can search satellite photos dating back years to determine cropping practices on individual fields.  (AP, 1/13/06).
  •  And in our monthly section of “Where’s Jose?”  French icon Jose Bove was cited as arriving back in Paris on February 8 after being turned away at the U.S. border due to his past convictions for trashing a McDonalds restaurant and GM crops.  Bove was cited as telling reporters at Paris' Charles De Gaulle airport that he had been caught up in a "senseless" and "grotesque" incident, adding, "I was turned back by the American authorities when I handed over my passport."  The French embassy in Washington was cited as saying there had been a "misunderstanding", and that Bove had failed to report the convictions on his immigration form because he believed the question related only to convictions on U.S. soil.  He had been due to speak at a conference at Cornell University.  (Agence France Press, 2/8/06).

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