IR-4/Supplier Partnerships Yield Positive Results
Learn how crop protection companies work with IR-4 to develop solutions to grower needs.
Crop protection companies need to know where the gaps are in specialty crop production so they can develop strategies to help growers address these concerns. This is where the partnership between IR-4 and the crop protection community is critical.
“Certis has been around for about 30 years, and we’ve spent a lot of that time working in conjunction with IR-4 to learn more about grower needs,” says Krista Coleman, Federal Regulatory Affairs Manager at Certis Biologicals. “The Food Use Workshop occurs every year, and from that workshop we can derive what the biggest needs are, specifically in organic production.”
“IR-4 brought that to our attention and allowed us to perform efficacy trials in the right place for the right pests at the right time,” Coleman says.
One example is coffee leaf rust, which was an emerging pest in the early 2020s in Hawaii.
“IR-4 brought that to our attention and allowed us to perform efficacy trials in the right place for the right pests at the right time,” Coleman says. “We were able to provide an integrated pest management approach, which was important because there was no silver bullet to treat this problem.”
Coleman also cites greenhouse trials for downy mildew on basil, which has been a problem over many years on the East Coast.
“We’ve been allowed to be involved in those trials with our Double Nickel product as well for treatment of downy mildew in greenhouse basil,” she says. “IR’-4s integrated solutions component allows us to focus on pest problems without solutions, organic problems, or pest residue problems. A lot of conventional growers might be worried about high pre-harvest intervals, re-entry intervals, or rotational programs not working as well as they used to. We can get in there and provide that IPM approach to solve problems that don’t have conventional solutions.”
Developing the Right TechnologyThe IR-4 Project’s 2023 Industry Technology Session was held virtually on July 20. This annual event gives companies the opportunity to present updates on products already in IR-4 research, as well as new technologies designed to assist specialty crop growers with their pest management needs. The session is a precursor to the Food Use Workshop. Technologies that were discussed during the session are eligible for IR-4 research in 2024. Presentations from this year from AMVAC, BASF, Certis Biologicals, Corteva Agriscience, Kemin, Nufarm, Profarm Group, and Vestaron are available at IR4project.org/events/2023-industry-technology-session.
