ANLA says IR-4 Project is threatened with elimination under USDA’s proposed 2013 budget.
The IR-4 Project was established by Congress in 1963 to assist domestic growers of fruits, vegetables, herbs, nursery and greenhouse plants, and other specialty crops by facilitating the registration of safe and effective technologies, through U.S. EPA, to protect them from insects, plant diseases, weeds and other pests.
The American Nursery & Landscape Association (ANLA) says IR-4 research has supported registration of more than half the crop protection tools now labeled for nursery and greenhouse use. Many of these tools and technologies — traditional chemicals, biopesticides, and other reduced risk materials — were also successfully labeled for landscape uses.
In the current federal budget, Congress provided about $15 million for the IR-4 effort. However, President Obama’s 2013 budget plan eliminates funding for Minor Crop Pest Management (IR-4) and proposes to consolidate IR-4 Project funds with funds for other pest management programs into a single new project called Crop Protection, according to ANLA.
The association and other organizations representing specialty crop producers believe the budget consolidation will eliminate the activities of the IR-4 Project in support of research for pesticide labeling for specialty crops. They are urging the green industry, nursery and greenhouse growers and landscape professionals to contact their U.S. Senators and Representative in the House to ask that the IR-4 Project be maintained as a separate budget line item in the USDA budget.
For more information, visit www.capwiz.com/anla/home or www.SaveIR-4.org.
