Alliance Projects Funded in 1998

Approximately 25,000 acres of strawberries are grown in California every year, accounting for more than 80 percent of the fresh market and processed strawberries grown in the United States on about 50 percent of the nations's strawberry acreage. The Strawberry Alliance established eleven on-farm demonstration field trials and held four 3- to 4-day field tours to demonstrate chemical and nonchemical alternatives to methyl bromide. The field demonstrations of reduced-risk alternatives attracted strawberry growers, UC researchers, and scientific staff of the USDA-ARS National Program, U.S. EPA, DPR, and CDFA. The demonstrations indicated that growers want to see reduced-risk chemical alternatives for methyl bromide developed and adopted.

Reduced-risk pest management practices investigated include crop rotations, solarization, the use of virtually impermeable mulch to reduce fumigant use and emissions, the use of ozone gas as a soil fumigant, soil and microbial amendments, and application of fumigants through the drip irrigation system, and various cultural practices. These practices were investigated on research stations and under actual farming conditions to properly evaluate alternative practices in terms of economic viability and efficacy against soil-borne pests. The industry's newsletter, the Pink Sheet, published results of many of the Alliance studies.

Strawberry farmers have shown much enthusiasm for alternatives to methyl bromide. Growers have turned out in record numbers to attend Alliance field days and demonstration plots, and have readily hosted on-farm demonstration trials. The number of Alliance sites using alternative practices for soil-borne pests increased about 700 percent last year. In addition, during 2000, large-scale certified organic strawberry studies will be conducted in two distinct production regions in California.

There are over five million students in California public schools. Nearly 80 percent of these students are in grades K through 8, and the student population is increasing by 60,000 each year. Between 1997 and 2002, these new students will require about 400 new schools. Compounding the problem, the Department of Education notes that 55 percent of public school buildings are over 30 years old. Many school facilities are in poor condition and are in need of basic repairs. Poor property maintenance relates directly to pest control because rather than make repairs, schools often use pesticides as a quick fix.

The Alliance focused on developing curricula and record keeping for school administrators and staff. To meet this objective, curricula were prepared and provided to school risk managers throughout the state and to numerous county superintendent offices. Along with the curriculum manual, the Alliance team provided reference material and seven videos about IPM. The material has already been presented to 33 school districts in Ventura County. An IPM database program, developed by the Los Angeles Unified School District, has also been provided. This database tracks IPM activities, including pesticide use and generates various reports.

California accounts for approximately 72 percent of the nation's iceberg lettuce and 78 percent of  its romaine. In 1996, 135,000 acres of iceberg lettuce were harvested in California and 26,000 acres of romaine. Since 1973, the California Lettuce Research Board (CLRB), a grower-funded program, has granted over $8 million for research.

The pest management Alliance was based upon previous research funded by the CLRB and cooperating agencies. The projects within this alliance focused on two major pest problems, downy mildew and leafminers. Researchers forecasted downy mildew development by establishing weather stations at trial sites and using a disease risk assessment model. Fungicide applications were coordinated to correspond with disease forecasts, reducing the total number of fungicide applications. Downy mildew-forecasting workshops were held in both the coastal and desert regions for both iceberg lettuce and romaine growers. In the Salinas area, researchers found that experimental iceberg lettuce cultivars showed resistance to existing field strains of downy mildew. In Santa Maria, team members held a leafminer management workshop and established two leafminer trials to compare conventional and reduced-risk treatments.

In California, chicken and turkey together rank as the tenth largest commodity. In 1998, the poultry industry used 1,159,920 pounds of formaldehyde disinfectant; 18,000 pounds of methomyl fly bait, 48,960 pounds of rodenticides, and 5,764 pounds of the herbicide diuron. These materials fall into several regulatory categories-they are targeted by FQPA, threaten worker health and safety, contaminate ground and surface water, and affect endangered species. Most chickens and turkeys are produced by two large companies who would not only like to reduce pesticide use and risk, but also control pathogens more efficiently. These priorities are related; many of the pathogen vectors such as flies, rodents, and darkling beetles are known hosts for microbes such as Salmonellaspp. and Escherichia coli.

Most outreach activities were coordinated by the California Poultry Federation (CPF), a group that includes over 90 percent of all California poultry producers. Every year, the CPF sponsors meat quality-assurance training programs (QA), which include alternative pest management strategies. Farm personnel are required to attend and pass an industry test to satisfy the requirements of companies who participate in the QA. Two CPF QA meetings included training in pest management using information developed during the Alliance project. A pest management committee was formed by one large company to share and implement information on pest management statewide among all segments of poultry production (breeders, fryers, turkeys). One poultry company eliminated all formaldehyde from three winter flock disinfectant schedules, saving over $1.3 million dollars as well as reducing pesticide risk. The reduced-risk breeder program saved more than $5,000 on one farm and the company's other breeder farms are now on the same program that eliminated the use of diuron, reduced fly bait, fly spray and rodenticide bait used and now relies on monitoring for pest population assessment and treatment.

California prune growers produce about 200,000 dried tons annually on 81,000 bearing acres. The Prune Alliance was established in 1998 to expand and strengthen existing efforts to implement reduced-risk pest management practices in prunes. The Alliance includes prune growers, pest control advisors, UC researchers, and Farm Advisors working together to demonstrate economical prune production, while reducing reliance on highly toxic pesticides. The coordinated effort is called the Integrated Prune Farming Practices project. One of the key elements of the project is the use of new monitoring techniques developed to help growers make more informed pest management decisions. A significant accomplishment has been the elimination of dormant organophosphate sprays by participating growers at 22 demonstration plots statewide. Total plot acreage is 708; however, total prune acreage farmed by participants exceeds 6,000 acres. A major strength of the Alliance is the overall coordination of project efforts by the California Prune Board. This assures uniform transfer of information on alternative practices to the 1,400 growers and 21 packers in California.

In North America, California is the only state that commercially produces almonds. There are approximately 6,000 growers in the state producing almonds on nearly 480,000 acres from Chico to Bakersfield. The Almond Alliance was formed in 1998 to evaluate and demonstrate less disruptive pest management practices. Several pests cause problems in almonds, with navel orangeworm (NOW) being the key pest. The Alliance has developed a project modeled after the Biologically Integrated Farming System (BIOS). BIOS growers are using well-established alternative practices to commercially grow both almonds and walnuts. Three large demonstration sites, from 50 to 120 acres in size, have been established in Butte, Stanislaus, and Kern counties. Six regional field days, three during the dormant season and three in-season, have attracted close to 600 growers and pest control advisors, who learned about the benefits of winter orchard sanitation to control NOW, alternatives to organophosphate and carbamate pesticides, and monitoring techniques to accurately identify pest and beneficial insects and plant diseases. A major strength of this alliance is the Almond Board's role in transfering information on reduced-risk alternatives to growers.

California produces 99 percent of the walnuts grown in the United States and 38 percent of those grown worldwide. Walnuts grow in a wide variety of areas throughout California on nearly 221,000 producing acres. The Walnut Alliance was established in 1998 to evaluate and demonstrate commercial walnut production using reduced-risk pest management practices. The key pests in walnuts are the codling moth and walnut blight disease. The Alliance established 12 demonstration orchards comparing the growers conventional program to control these pests, with reduced-risk alternatives. These alternatives include mating disruption, release of natural enemies, use of low-risk biological pesticides and disease forecasting allowing growers to better time treatments. At five regional field days, over 250 growers and pest control advisors have learned about these and other alternatives to organophosphate and carbamate insecticides. The Alliance is a collaborative effort between participating walnut growers, UC researchers, local Farm Advisors, pest control advisors, and the Community Alliance with Family Farmers, with support from the Walnut Marketing Board. The continuing focus of the Alliance is to increase grower adoption of economical reduced-risk alternatives. The group has identified a 75% reduction of organophosphate use on 12,000 acres as a realistic reduced-risk adoption goal.

California ranks second nationwide in pear production; in 1996, approximately 317,000 acres were harvested. The Alliance project establishes and expands codling moth (CM) pheromone-based pest management projects in each of four pear-growing counties-Sacramento, El Dorado, Lake and Mendocino-involving 33 growers and 8 pest control advisors. The major goal during the first year was to reduce organophosphate (OP) use by 60 percent. A research component evaluated new reduced-risk insecticides such as Confirm® for leafroller control, because a decrease in OP use has lead to an increase in damage from secondary pests. Alliance team members conducted timing trials of the reduced-risk pesticide used for control of leafrollers, an important secondary pest in CM pheromone-disrupted orchards. Secondary pest pressure impedes expansion of these projects. In Yuba County, a demonstration project showed that the biological control agent, Blight Ban A506®, was effective at half the label rate, allowing a 50-60% reduction in antibiotic use for fireblight control.

In the demonstration projects, growers and PCAs were apprised of insect populations on a weekly basis by fax (sooner if necessary) from project leaders along with personal contacts with PCAs at weekly breakfast meetings. End-of-year meetings with all participants were held as well as presentations in the early (Walnut Grove) and late (Ukiah) district of all pear research including the Alliance projects.