IR-4 MINOR CROP PEST MANAGEMENT

• Sponsoring Institution: National Institute of Food and Agriculture
• Project Status: COMPLETE
• Funding Source: SPECIAL GRANT
• Reporting Frequency: Annual
• Accession No.: 1026545
• Grant No.: 2021-34383-34848
• Cumulative Award Amt.: $11,547,033.00
• Proposal No.: 2021-04269
• Project Start Date: Aug 1, 2021
• Project End Date: Jul 31, 2024
• Grant Year: 2022
• Program Code: [RR]- IR-4 Minor Crop Pest Management

Recipient Organization
NORTH CAROLINA STATE UNIV
(N/A)
RALEIGH,NC 27695

Performing Department
IR-4 Project

Non Technical Summary
The IR-4 Project facilitates registration of crop protection technology for specialty crops (fruits, vegetables, nuts, herbs, ornamentals, other horticulture crops) and minor uses on major crops (corn, soybean, wheat, etc.) to manage insect, plant disease, weed and other destructive pests. IR-4accomplishes its mission by developing the data required by US Environmental Protection Agency, the states, and industry to expand registrations with conventional pesticides and biopesticides. IR-4 supplements the efforts of industry in markets that lack adequate sales to support their development investment. IR-4 provides significant deliverables with positive impacts to stakeholders that include new registrations for key pests; extending registrations to include similar crops through crop grouping/data extrapolation; and assisting in the harmonization of international Maximum Residue Levels to remove pesticide residues in crops as a trade barrier. IR-4 concentrates its efforts on lower risk technology that respects human health and the environment. This gives the specialty crop farmers/growers access to crop protection technology to better manage pests in a sustainable and environmentally friendly manner. Organic growers also benefit from registrations of biopesticides derived from natural materials.IR-4 Headquarters (HQ), a unit of NC State University, manages/coordinates activities for the national IR-4 Project. HQ coordinates research activities with collaborations with the four IR-4 Regional Centers (NE-University of Maryland Eastern Shore; NC-Michigan State University, SR-University of Florida, and WR-University of California-Davis), USDA-ARS, IR-4's field research farms, commodity/grower groups, the crop protection industry, State Agricultural Experiment Stations, EPA, and foreign governments.

Animal Health Component

100%

Research Effort Categories

Basic

0%

Applied

100%

Developmental

0%

Classification

Knowledge Area (KA)	Subject of Investigation (SOI)	Field of Science (FOS)	Percent
211	5220	1130	35%
213	5220	1140	25%
212	5220	1102	30%
212	5220	1120	10%

Knowledge Area
212 - Pathogens and Nematodes Affecting Plants; 211 - Insects, Mites, and Other Arthropods Affecting Plants; 213 - Weeds Affecting Plants;

Subject Of Investigation
5220 - Pesticides;

Field Of Science
1120 - Nematology; 1130 - Entomology and acarology; 1102 - Mycology; 1140 - Weed science;

Keywords

biopesticide

crop protection

minor uses

pest management

pesticide

specialty crops

Goals / Objectives
The IR-4 Project was established in 1963 by the USDA to provide assistance to growers of fruits, vegetables, nuts, herbs, ornamentals and other specialty crops by facilitating the regulatory approval of conventional chemical pesticides and biopesticides to manage insects, plant diseases, weeds and other pests that reduce crop yield or quality. IR-4 also assists with the regulatory approval of pest management technology for minor uses on major crops.The IR-4 Project accomplishes its mission through the development and submission of the high quality data required by US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and other regulatory authorities to support registration decisions. Regulatory authorities require magnitude of the residue and/or product performance data on synthetic chemical pesticides, biochemical pesticides, microbial pesticides, plant incorporated protectants and other technologies to assess the risk and benefits. The IR-4 Project submissions traditionally support approximately 50% of the EPA registrations for new uses of existing pesticides/biopesticides. The core objectives of the IR-4 Project are:1) Facilitate registrations of crop protection products on specialty food crops and minor uses. IR-4 supports the production of specialty food crops (fruits, vegetables, nuts, herbs, etc.) and minor uses on major crops by developing data required by US Environmental Protection Agency to register reduced risk chemical and bio-based pesticides. Emphasis will be placed on using lower/reduced risk chemicals and encouraging uses compatible with IPM and resistance management programs. Components include:Magnitude of residue studies to determine the amount of pesticide residue remaining on a specialty crop after being exposed to applications of a pesticide;Product performance studies to develop efficacy and crop safety data that are required by a state (e.g. California) or company to "prove" that the proposed use is safe and effective;Integrated Solutions to focus on the development of "systems" to mitigate, or lower, the level of chemical pesticide in fruits and vegetables at harvest, to develop processes to avoid pest resistance to pesticides or to manage hard to control pests; andCrop grouping to establish extrapolation models for residue data for certain representative crops used to establish pesticide tolerances for those a group of crops that are botanically related.Cooperate with various domestic and international partners to harmonize global pesticide registration standards for specialty crops. Pesticide residues can be a technical trade barrier to export of US grown specialty crops. IR-4, working with USDA Foreign Agriculture Service, Agriculture and Ag-Food Canada, European Union Minor Use Coordination Facility, the Minor Use Foundation and other international organizations are developing systems and data to support global harmonization of pesticide residues and pesticide regulatory practices.2) Provide regulatory support to assist public sector scientists and small business achieve pesticide registrations with new technology. IR-4 will provide regulatory support and guidance to help public sector and small business obtain registrations for Plant Incorporated Protectants (including genetically modified organisms, RNAi, and gene-edited organisms) and other new technology through US Environmental Protection Agency. Regulatory support will also be provided to assist organic growers by obtaining approval of products for use in certified organic production..3) Develop product performance data needed to support registration of chemical and bio-based pesticides on environmental horticulture crops. IR-4 will develop necessary product efficacy and/or plant safety data (collectively called Product Performance) to assist in the approval of pesticide registrations or prohibitions for environmental horticulture crops. Emphasis will be placed on using lower/reduced risk chemicals and encouraging uses compatible with IPM and resistance management programs.

Project Methods
Food ProgramMagnitude of the Residue Studiesexpand inventory of growers pest management needs through identification of pest management voids and potential solutions from specialty crop growers, commodity associations, cooperative extension personal, state and federal research personnel and other stakeholdersusing an open and transparent process, set research priorities at an annual workshop; focus on safe, IPM compatible products to fulfill pest management voidsperform research studies under federal Good Laboratory Practice regulations to obtain the necessary data to support new registrationsextend the value of developed data to cover more crops through crop grouping and extrapolationcritically evaluate data and prepare petition submissions for regulatory approval through the US Environmental Protection Agency and if appropriateassist in the efforts to harmonize international Maximum Residue Levels (MRLs) standards in order to remove pesticides as a trade barrierEvaluation: Monitor Federal Registration for EPA approval of new pesticide tolerance and registrationsIntegrated Solutions:In 2018, the biopesticide and organic program began transitioning to an Integrated Solutions approach as a means of identifying solutions to existing pest management voids by integrating conventional (non-organic) products with biopesticide products to help prevent development of pest resistance.continue to support research on biopesticides alone or in combination with safe, IPM compatible products to fulfill pest management voids.continue to support research to enhance the development and registration of biopesticides for use in conventional and organic food and non-food pest management programs which provide growers options to use biochemical pesticides, microbial pesticides, plant incorporated protectants and other emerging technology to manage pests. screen conventional chemical pesticides and biopesticides to identify the best solution or management practice(s) to address existing pest management voids.assist certified organic growers of specialty crops by adding new products to the Organic Program's National List of substances approved for use in organic production.Evaluation: Monitor Federal Registration for EPA approval of new biopesticide registrationsEnvironmental Horticulture Program:expand inventory of growers pest management needs through identification of pest management voids and potential solutions from ornamental horticulture crop producers, commodity associations, cooperative extension personal, state and federal research personnel and other stakeholdersconduct a priority setting workshop to prioritize research objectives based on stakeholders needsperform efficacy and/or crop safety research testing to develop data required by the registrants and/or regulatory authorities to allow expansion of registrationscritically evaluate data and prepare data packages for cooperating industrypost data on the IR-4 website to allow the ornamental horticulture community to make appropriate decisions on product useEvaluation: discussions with agrichemical companies to determine which of their new registrations are based on IR-4 data.Results of field and laboratory research are submitted to the companies and/or EPA to request a pesticide tolerance and/or registration. One of IR-4's goals is to maximize efficiencies by coordinating and bundling registration packages within manufacturer and EPA timelines. This results in timeframes of 24 to 30 months from protocol initiation to EPA submissions. In certain cases, registration is dependent on the development of adequate product performance (efficacy and/or crop safety data). This data can be a critically important component in obtaining registrations.Following simular methods, IR-4 HQ provides leadership in the development of necessary data to answer product performance data needs on food and non-food ornamental crops.

Progress 08/01/21 to 07/31/24

Outputs
Target Audience:The primary stakeholders and target audience of the IR-4 Project's research activities are the domestic growers/farmers of food and non-food specialty crops. Other stakeholders are food processors and others in the food chain who process or sell specialty crops as food. Occasionally, growers/farmers of major crops with concerns about an isolated pest are also stakeholders. Ultimately, the target audience is the public who consumes high-quality "healthy" specialty crops/food or purchases ornamentals that enhance the environment. The primary stakeholders have significant involvement in directing IR-4's research activities. Involvement starts with their initial submission of a "Request for Assistance" to IR-4 in the Food Program or their response to a Grower Needs Survey in the Environmental Horticulture Program. Any farmer/grower, public sector researcher/extension educator, or individual can submit a Request for Assistance to IR-4. The only groups of individuals prohibited from submitting Requests for Assistance are representatives from pesticide (chemical or biopesticide) companies. As IR-4 does not have adequate resources to address all Requests for Assistance, there are efforts to prioritize the most critical projects. Stakeholder involvement continues during the priority-setting process for the selection of research. Again, because of resource limitations, IR-4 can only perform research to address the most critical farmer/grower needs for new pest management technology. IR-4 solicits input on the importance of specific projects utilizing a variety of methods, including state/regional discussion meetings, web-based nominations of the highest priorities, input from EPA and from the USDA-Regional Integrated Pest Management Centers, andface-to-face dialogue at the Annual IR-4 National Priority Setting Workshops. The interests of these primary stakeholders are articulated by four main groups, including: individual farmers/growers who directly interact with the IR-4 Project; members of the IR-4 Commodity Liaison Committee (CLC), a formal IR-4 Project advisory group consisting of growers, commodity groups, and food processors; members of the Minor Crop Farmers Alliance, a national organization representing farmers, processors, and others involved in the production of various horticultural crops from across the U.S. and; State and federal research scientists and extension educators who directly or indirectly represent the interests of specialty crop growers. IR-4's primary deliverable, as recognized by the target audiences, is EPA registrations of crop protection products (chemical pesticides and biopesticides). Approvals or new registrations resulting from IR-4 data are monitored and communicated to stakeholders. Traditional forums documenting new registrations include publication in the Federal Register of new pesticide tolerances or notice of registrations, direct meetings with companies, or announcements in trade publications and newsletters. Once these new registrations are confirmed, IR-4 will share the new via publication in the monthly activity reports, quarterly newsletter, and annual reports. Changes/Problems:Adequate resources continue to be an issue with IR-4. Inflation has resulted in pressure for IR-4 to allocate more towards research. Research units are also asked to pick up more direct costs at their site. As Congressional appropriations have not kept up with the critical need for IR-4 to facilitate the registration of new technology for specialty crop growers to manage pests, IR-4 is forced to make the difficult decision to either reduce the number of new research priorities and allocate more funds for fewer projects or ask research units to "tighten their belt." IR-4 attempts to maintain new research prioritiesby integrating new technology to improve efficiency. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?? How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?IR-4 Project Headquarters takes the lead in serving as the focal point in outreach by providing communication to IR-4 Project stakeholders including farmers/growers, commodity associations, food processors, internal IR-4 personnel (State Liaison Representatives, staff at the IR-4 regional offices and analytical laboratories, cooperating ARS scientists), state andfederal government agencies,international partners, registrants of pesticides and biopesticides other interested members of the public. IR-4 has transitioned most of the traditional print materials such as newslettersto electronic bulletins that rapidly highlight successes, challenges and relevant news. In addition over the past year the IR-4 program began publishing "Success Stories in our food (https://www.ir4project.org/fc/food-crop-successes-stories/) and environmental horticulture (https://www.ir4project.org/ehc/environmental-horticulture-research-summaries/) programs. IR-4 does publish a traditional paper copies of the Year End Summary, a document that summarizes the annual report. The IR-4 Project website (ir4project.org) continues to evolve and improve in layout and content to make this site more user friendly and useful. As cited above, the IR-4 website contains the current news and information about IR-4 activities, with access to the many databases used in the Food, Environmental Horticulture, Biopesticide/Organic Support and Integrated Solutions research programs. Stakeholders can submit a "Request for Assistance" form through the website and most importantly, check the status of IR-4 research on specific crops and pests through the various databases noted above.. IR-4 also uses social media and Constant Contact to "push" information to its stakeholders. Constant Contact subscribers (over 2000) receive monthly updates about IR-4 research and other breaking news related to the program. IR-4 continue to attend and participate in scientific and commodity associations meetings in order to share information on IR-4, accomplishments and plans. Additionally, IR-4 continues to participate in other events virtually. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?As this is the final report of associated with this project, specific plans for the next reporting period is not deemed approprate here. With the above acknowledged,IR-4 continuesreceive new request needs for US commodity growers. Since 1963, IR-4 stakeholders have submitted nearly 14,000requests for assistance to the IR-4 Food Use Program. IR-4 continues to use a open and transparent process to establish research priorities. Research prioirties for calendar year 2025 were established at the 2024 Food Use Workshop. IR-4 anticipates that are current funding levels the 2025research program will consist of approx. 50 new residue studies, 100 performance projects 6new integrated solutions projects for the Food Program and twenty to twenty-five Environmental Horticulture projects. IR-4 expects to submit approximately 25 (products) regulatory data packages to EPA with nearly 80 studies covering over 100 stakeholder requests. The Environmental Horticulture program will provide as many as twenty data summaries to crop protection companies for expanded use to horticulture crops. IR-4 intends to allocate more effort on product performance or "value" data development that is needed to alive liability concerns by registrant concerns who support these projects. This adjustment is in response to an increased trend by the crop protection industry to request that IR-4 provide crop safety data or efficacy data prior to them willing to add a new use to their registration. IR-4 will also continue addressing hard to manage pest situations by integratingbiopesticide products and emerging technologies with conventianal pesticides.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? During the final year of this multi-year project (period of performance, fromAugust 1, 2023to July 30, 2024), EPA established 54tolerances based of prior IR-4 submissions. Using established extrapolations models as codified in the EPA crop groupings as well as ad-hoc suggestions, these tolerances supported the registrations of 1270new uses of crop protection technology on specialty crops and minor uses on major crops. Please note that these numbers do not include proposed actions of additional new tolerances. Another accomplishement that IR-4 tracks is the submission of pesticide tolerance petititons to EPA. During the period of performance, IR-4 submitted 11 tolerance petitions that involved 78 specifc request for assistance that had been submitted by IR-4 public sector stakeholders.

Publications

Progress 08/01/22 to 07/31/23

Outputs
Target Audience:The primary stakeholders and target audience of the IR-4 Project's research activities are the domestic growers/farmers of food and non-food specialty crops. Other stakeholders are food processors and others in the food chain who process or sell specialty crops as food. On occassion, growers/farmers of major crops that have concerns about an isolated pest is also a stakeholder. Ultimately, the target audience is the public who consumes the high quality "healthy" specialty crops/food or purchases ornamentals that enhance the environment. The primary stakeholders have significant involvement in directing IR-4's research activities. Involvement starts with their initial submission of a "Request for Assistance" to IR-4 in the Food Program or their response to a Grower Needs Survey in the Environmental Horticulture Program. Any farmer/grower, public sector researcher/extension educator or individual can submit a Request for Assistance to IR-4. The only groups of individuals prohibited from submitting Requests for Assistance are representatives from pesticide (chemical or biopesticide) companies. As IR-4 does not have adequate resources to address all Requests for Assistance, there is efforts to prioritize the most important projects. Stakeholder involvement continues during priority setting process for selection of research. Again, because of resource limitations, IR-4 can only perform research to address the most critical farmer/grower needs for new pest management technology. IR-4 solicits input on the importance of specific projects utilizing a variety of methods including state/regional discussion meetings, web-based nominations of the highest priorities, input from EPA and from the USDA-Regional Integrated Pest Management Centers, and from face-to-face dialogue at the Annual IR-4 National Priority Setting Workshops. The interests of these primary stakeholders are articulated by four main groups including: • individual farmers/growers who directly interact with the IR-4 Project; • members of the IR-4 Commodity Liaison Committee (CLC), a formal IR-4 Project advisory group consisting of growers, commodity groups, and food processors; • members of the Minor Crop Farmers Alliance, a national organization representing farmers, processors and others involved in the production of various horticultural crops from across the U.S. and; • State and federal research scientists and extension educators who directly or indirectly represent the interests of specialty crop growers. IR-4's primary deliverable, as recognized by the target audiences, is EPA registrations of crop protection products (chemical pesticides and biopesticides). Approvals or new registrations resulting from IR-4 data are monitored and communicated to stakeholders. Traditional forums documenting new registrations include publication in the Federal Register of new pesticide tolerances or notice of registrations, direct meetings with companies or announcements in trade publications and newsletters. Once these new registrations are confirmed, IR-4 will share the new via publication in the monthly activity reports, quarterly newsletter, and annual reports. Changes/Problems:IR-4 has completed its multi-year transition of its National Headquarters from Rutgers University to North Carolina State University. This relocation caused a major upheaval of the IR-4 research coordiation, direction and program management. IR-4 now has a full staff at NC State and has largly recoved from thelarge turnover in IR-4 Headquarters staff due to retirement and or reluctance to move to the new location. These new employees have gained knowledge and experience. However many still lack the multi-decade extensive experience of previous staff amd are adjusting to their new responsibilites. Furthermore, in October 2021, the IR-4 Project Management Committee made a difficult decision to close the North Central Region Analytical Laboratory at Michigan State University. This decision was made as the cost of maintaining this and other dedicated Regional Analytical Laboratories continues to increase with corresponding decrease in new research to respond to stakeholder needs. The laboratory will close on/about July 31, 2022. Funds saved will be reallocated back into research. Benefits from this closrure will be experience in 2023 and beyon. Currenlty, IR-4 is challenged in getting the data up to acceptible standards without the contributions of the prior staff. In March 2022, the US Congress increased the amount of funds for the IR-4 Project. This is the first time in over 12 years, IR-4 received a modest funding increase from $11.9 million to $14.5 million. While these new funds have assisted IR-4 greatly, IR-4 is not able to utilize the full $2.6 million increase for research. Over $1.45 million of these funds are now allowed to be used to offset indirect costs at the institutions that host IR-4. While IR-4 management is supportive of the modest indirect cost contribution, there is still a significant need for additional funds to help specialty crop farmers gain access to adequate and the most modern pest management technology available. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?IR-4 continues to have on-going training, especially for new staff, to ensure that research in the Food Program is performed according to acceptable processes and directions. Food Program participants must also receive ongoing training to ensure continued compliance to EPA Good Laboratory Practice Regulations (Chapter 40, Code of Federal Regulations, Part 160). These trainings are often "in house" with new staff such as Study Directors or at the IR-4 regional offices, for example, the IR4 Western Region team provides quarterly training webinars that are open to all researchers, please see: http://wrir4.ucdavis.edu/events/Webinars/Past_Webinars.html I n 2023, IR-4 Project hosted a national training program that brings together all field scientists, analytical chemists, research managers, study directors, quality assurance and Project management in one location for extensive professional development in Puerto Rico; see link to the event summary;https://www.ir4project.org/events/2023-nec/ In addition to the above, IR-4 continues to provide intern opportunities to Undergraduate and Graduate degree students. IR-4 has hosted students as well as visiting scientists at our facilities. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?IR-4 Project Headquarters takes the lead in serving as the focal point in outreach by providing communication to IR-4 Project stakeholders including farmers/growers, commodity associations, food processors, internal IR-4 personnel (State Liaison Representatives, staff at the IR-4 regional offices and analytical laboratories, cooperating ARS scientists), state and federalgovernment agencies,international partners, registrants of pesticides and biopesticides other interested members of the public. IR-4 has transitioned most of the traditional print materials to electronic frequent electronic bulletins that rapidly highlight successes, challenges and relevant news. In addition over the past year the IR-4 program began publishing "Success Stories in our food (https://www.ir4project.org/fc/food-crop-successes-stories/) and environmental horticulture (https://www.ir4project.org/ehc/environmental-horticulture-research-summaries/) programs. IR-4 does print and provide traditional paper copies of the Year End Summary, a document that summarizes the annual report. The IR-4 Project website (ir4project.org) continues to evolve and improve in layout and content to make this site more user friendly and useful. As cited above, the IR-4 website contains the current news and information about IR-4 activities, with access to the many databases used in the Food, Environmental Horticulture, Biopesticide/Organic Support and Integrated Solutions research programs. Stakeholders can submit a "Request for Assistance" form through the website and most importantly, check the status of IR-4 research on specific crops and pests through the various databases noted above.. IR-4 also uses social media and Constant Contact to "push" information to its stakeholders. Constant Contact subscribers (over 2000) receive monthly updates about IR-4 research and other breaking news related to the program. Now that the COVID-19 is ended, IR-4 personnel have returned to attending and participateingin in scientific and trade associations meetings in order to contribute presentations concerning IR-4 accomplishments and provide information and updates to particpants and growers. Additionally, IR-4 continues to participate in other events virtually. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?IR-4 continues to receive new request needs for US commodity growers. In 2022, stakeholders submitted 203new requests for specialty crop registrations. Since 1963, IR-4 stakeholders have submitted 13,637requests for assistance to the IR-4 Food Use Program. Of these, 197are currently considered "researchable projects" that remain as outstanding documented needs of specialty crop growers. The other requests have been addressed through previous research and regulatory submissions or cannot be registered at this time., IR-4 will again ask stakeholders to select their highest priorities for research in 2024, which will only be a fraction of the overall needs. IR-4 anticipates that are current funding levels the 2024research program will consist of 60-65 new residue studies, 100 performance projects 15-20 new integrated solutions projects for the Food Program and twenty to twenty-five Environmental Horticulture projects. IR-4 expects to submit approximately 25 (products) regulatory data packages to EPA with nearly 80 studies covering over 100 stakeholder requests. The Environmental Horticulture program will provide as many as twenty data summaries to crop protection companies for expanded use to horticulture crops. IR-4 intends to allocate more effort on product performance or "value" data development that is needed to alive liability concerns by registrant concerns who support these projects. This adjustment is in response to an increased trend by the crop protection industry to request that IR-4 provide crop safety data or efficacy data prior to them willing to add a new use to their registration. IR-4 will also continue addressing hard to control pest voids by integrating its biopesticide research activities into established Food Crop Product Performance and Environmental Horticulture activities and reserve priorities for organic production stakeholders. This will be accomplished through the integrated solutions approach where biopesticides and conventional chemical pesticides are used in an approach that maximizes management of pests becoming resistant to the crop protection technology. It also allows a focus on using biopesticide products close to harvest to further reduce any potential for residues in the crop as it enters the food supply. This residue mitigation approach will help reduce pesticide harmonization issues that US specialty crop farmers face with exporting crops to international markets

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? During the period of performance, (August 1, 2022 to July 30, 2023), EPA established 709tolerances based of prior IR-4 submissions. Using established extrapolations models as codified in the EPA crop groupings as well as ad-hoc suggestions, these tolerances supported the registrations of 1076new uses of crop protection technology on specialty crops and minor uses on major crops. Please note that these numbers do not include proposed actions of additional new tolerances. Another accomplishement that IR-4 tracks is the submission of pesticide tolerance petititons to EPA. During the period of performance, IR-4 submitted 8tolerance petitions that involved 92specifc request for assistance that had been submitted by IR-4 public sector stakeholders.

Publications

• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Accepted Year Published: 2022 Citation: Axtell, A. and Pedibhotla V. 2022. Pesticide use nearby rivers & other water bodies: tips for reducing pesticide loss & novel technologies. EPA webinar series: Reducing pesticide in water in indian country thru integrated pest management
• Type: Other Status: Published Year Published: 2022 Citation: Axtell, A. and Batts, R. 2022. Fall 2022 sweet potato update (handout) - the IR-4 project. NCSU sweet potato field day
• Type: Other Status: Published Year Published: 2022 Citation: Ballantyne, A. 2022. Crop Vignette: Hibiscus. Crop Vignette: Hibiscus  IR-4 Project (ir4project.org)
• Type: Other Status: Published Year Published: 2022 Citation: Ballantyne, A. 2022. Crop Vignette: Phlox. Crop Vignette: Phlox  IR-4 Project (ir4project.org)
• Type: Other Status: Published Year Published: 2022 Citation: Ballantyne, A. and Palmer, C.L. 2022. Crop Vignette: Clematis. Crop Vignette: Clematis  IR-4 Project (ir4project.org)
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2022 Citation: Batts, R.B., J. J. Baron, and V. K. Pedibhotla. 2022. IR-4: Weed Science Update - Food Crops. Weed Science Society of America annual meeting. Abstract #151
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2022 Citation: Batts, R.B., J. J. Baron, and V. K. Pedibhotla. 2022. IR-4: Weed Science Update - Food Crops. Western Society of Weed Science annual meeting. Abstract #111
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2022 Citation: Batts, R.B., J. J. Baron, and V. K. Pedibhotla. 2022. IR-4: Weed Science Update - Food Crops. North Central Weed Science Society annual meeting. Abstract #150
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2022 Citation: Braverman, M., W. Barney, P. Moore and J. Baron. 2022. Regulatory requirements for biopesticides and emerging technologies. Association of Applied Biologists Meeting, Bringing Biocontrol and IPM to Market, Abstract, Page 29
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2022 Citation: Frank S., Gilrein D., Havers M., and Palmer C. L. 2022. Box Tree Moth: Fact Sheet, Management & Visual Guide. BTM_FactSheet_VisualGuide.pdf (ncsu.edu)
• Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2022 Citation: Palmer, C. L. 2022. Crop Vignette: Poinsettia. Crop Vignette: Poinsettia  IR-4 Project (ir4project.org)
• Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2022 Citation: Salazar, C. S., LeBlanc N., Daughtrey M. L., Hausbeck M., Palmer C., Shishkoff N., Warfield C., and Crouch J. A. 2022. The impatiens downy mildew epidemic in the U.S. is caused by new, introgressed lineages of Plasmopara destructor with prominent genotypic diversity and high evolutionary potential. Plant Disease. https://doi.org/10.1094/PDIS-08-22-1872-RE
• Type: Websites Status: Published Year Published: 2023 Citation: Ross, H. K. Chojnaski, J. Baron. 2023 IR-4 Project Website-Update http://www.ir4project.org/

Progress 08/01/21 to 07/31/22

Outputs
Target Audience:The primary stakeholders and target audience of the IR-4 Project's research activities are the domestic growers/farmers of food and non-food specialty crops. Other stakeholders are food processors and others in the food chain who process or sell specialty crops as food. Ultimately, the target audience is the public who consumes the high quality "healthy" specialty crops/food or purchases ornamentals that enhance the environment. The primary stakeholders have significant involvement in directing IR-4's research activities. Involvement starts with their initial submission of a "Request for Assistance" or PR to IR-4 in the Food Program or their response to a Grower Needs Survey in the Environmental Horticulture Program. Any farmer/grower, public sector researcher/extension educator or individual can submit a Request for Assistance from IR-4. The only groups of individuals prohibited from submitting Requests for Assistance are representatives from pesticide (chemical or biopesticide) companies. Stakeholder involvement continues during priority setting process for selection of research. Because of resource limitations, IR-4 can only perform research to address the most critical farmer/grower needs for new pest management technology. IR-4 solicits input on the importance of specific projects utilizing a variety of methods including state/regional discussion meetings, web-based nominations of the highest priorities, input from EPA and from the USDA-Regional Integrated Pest Management Centers, and from face-to-face dialogue at the Annual IR-4 National Priority Setting Workshops. The interests of these primary stakeholders are articulated by four main groups including: individual farmers/growers who directly interact with the IR-4 Project; members of the IR-4 Commodity Liaison Committee (CLC), a formal IR-4 Project advisory group consisting of growers, commodity groups, and food processors; members of the Minor Crop Farmers Alliance, a national organization representing farmers, processors and others involved in the production of various horticultural crops from across the U.S. and; State and federal research scientists and extension educators who directly or indirectly represent the interests of specialty crop growers. IR-4's primary deliverable, as recognized by the target audiences, is EPA registrations of crop protection products (chemical pesticides and biopesticides). Approvals or new registrations resulting from IR-4 data are monitored and communicated to stakeholders. Traditional forums documenting new registrations include publication in the Federal Register of new pesticide tolerances or notice of registrations, direct meetings with companies or announcements in trade publications and newsletters. Once these new registrations are confirmed, IR-4 will share the new via publication in the monthly activity reports, quarterly newsletter, and annual reports. Changes/Problems:In 2021, IR-4 finalized the two-year transition of its National Headquarters from it long time home at Rutgers University to North Carolina State University. This major upheaval of the IR-4 research coordiation, direction and program management occurred because of limited indirect cost contributions from the USDA grant to Rutgers. NC State was willing to accept a smaller indirect cost recovery. This move result in a large turnover in IR-4 Headquarters staff due to retirement and or reluctance to move to the new location. IR-4 has already hired a new staff and has established new offices in North Carolina. Many of these new employees lack the extensive experience of previous staff. However, IR-4 was fortunate, approx. 33% of prior staff are still involved in the operations. In October 2021, the IR-4 Project Management Committee made a difficult decisionto close the North Central Region Analytical Laboratory at Michigan State University. This decision was made as the cost of maintaining this and other dedicated Regional Analytical Laboratories continues to increase with corresponding decrease in new research to respond to stakeholder needs. The laboratory will close on/about July 31, 2022. Funds saved will be reallocated back into research. In March 2022, the US Congress increased the amount of funds for the IR-4 Project. This is the first time in over 12 years, IR-4 received a modest funding increase from $11.9 million to $14.5 million. While these new funds have assisted IR-4 greatly, IR-4 is not able to utilize the full $2.6 million increase for research. Over $1.45 million of these funds are now allowed to be used to offset indirect costs at the institutions that host IR-4. While IR-4 management is supportive of the modest indirect cost contribution, there is still a significant need for additional funds to help specialty crop farmers gain access to adequate and the most modern pest management technology available. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?IR-4 continues to have on-going training, especially for new staff, to ensure that research in the Food Program is performed according to acceptable processes and directions. Food Program participants must also receive ongoing training to ensure continued compliance to EPA Good Laboratory Practice Regulations (Chapter 40, Code of Federal Regulations, Part 160). These trainings are often "in house" with new staff such as Study Directors or at the IR-4 regional offices, for example, the IR-4 Western Region team provides quarterly training webinars that are open to all researchers, please see: http://wrir4.ucdavis.edu/events/Webinars/Past_Webinars.html In 2023, IR-4 Project is hosting a national training program that brings together all field scientists, analytical chemists, research managers, study directors, quality assurance and Project management in one location for extensive professional development. A similar event was held in San Diego in February 2020; see link to the event summary; https://www.ir4project.org/workshops-and-events/2020-national-education-conference/. In addition to the above, IR-4 continues to provide intern opportunities to Undergraduate and Graduate degree students. IR-4 has hosted students as well as visiting scientists at our facilities. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?IR-4 Project Headquarters takes the lead in serving as the focal point in outreach by providing communication to IR-4 Project stakeholders including farmers/growers, commodity associations, food processors, internal IR-4 personnel (State Liaison Representatives, staff at the IR-4 regional offices and analytical laboratories, cooperating ARS scientists), state and federal government agencies,international partners, registrants of pesticides and biopesticides other interested members of the public. IR-4 has transitioned most of the traditional print materials to electronic frequent electronic bulletins that rapidly highlight successes, challenges and relevant news. In addition over the past year the IR-4 program began publishing "Success Stories in our food (https://www.ir4project.org/fc/food-crop-successes-stories/) and environmental horticulture (https://www.ir4project.org/ehc/environmental-horticulture-research-summaries/) programs. IR-4 does print and provide traditional paper copies of the Year End Summary, a document that summarizes the annual report The IR-4 Project website (ir4project.org) continues to evolve and improve in layout and content to make this site more user friendly and useful. As cited above, the IR-4 website contains the current news and information about IR-4 activities, with access to the many databases used in the Food, Environmental Horticulture, Biopesticide/Organic Support and Integrated Solutions research programs. Stakeholders can submit a "Request for Assistance" form through the website and most importantly, check the status of IR-4 research on specific crops and pests through the various databases noted above.. IR-4 also uses social media and Constant Contact to "push" information to its stakeholders. Constant Contact subscribers (over 2000) receive monthly updates about IR-4 research and other breaking news related to the program. Prior to COVID-19, IR-4 personnel regularly attended and participated in in scientific, association, and trade meetings in order to contribute presentations concerning IR-4 accomplishments and provide information and updates to growers. The majority of these in-person meetings have been suspended over the last two+ years. IR-4 continues to participate in the events virtually. IR-4 anticipates that the in opportunity for person meetings will gain momentum. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?IR-4 continues to receive new request needs for US commodity growers. In 2021, stakeholders submitted 197 new requests for specialty crop registrations. Since 1963, IR-4 stakeholders have submitted 13,391 requests for assistance to the IR-4 Food Use Program. Of these, 319 are currently considered "researchable projects" that remain as outstanding documented needs of specialty crop growers. The other requests have been addressed through previous research and regulatory submissions or cannot be registered at this time. As of June 10, 2020, IR-4 Food Program database is tracking 341 potential unaddressed needs (voids) for growers. In September of 2022, IR-4 will again ask stakeholders to select their highest priorities for research in 2023, which will only be a fraction of the overall needs. IR-4 anticipates that are current funding levels the 2023 research program will consist of 60-65 new residue studies, 100 performance projects 15-20 new integrated solutions projects for the Food Program and twenty to twenty-five Environmental Horticulture projects. IR-4 expects to submit approximately 25 (products) regulatory data packages to EPA with nearly 80 studies covering over 100 stakeholder requests. The Environmental Horticulture program will provide as many as twenty data summaries to crop protection companies for expanded use to horticulture crops. IR-4 intends to allocate more effort on product performance or "value" data development that is needed to alive liability concerns by registrant concerns who support these projects. This adjustment is in response to an increased trend by the crop protection industry to request that IR-4 provide crop safety data or efficacy data prior to them willing to add a new use to their registration. IR-4 will also continue addressing hard to control pest voids by integrating its biopesticide research activities into established Food Crop Product Performance and Environmental Horticulture activities and reserve priorities for organic production stakeholders. This will be accomplished through the integrated solutions approach where biopesticides and conventional chemical pesticides are used in an approach that maximizes management of pests becoming resistant to the crop protection technology. It also allows a focus on using biopesticide products close to harvest to further reduce any potential for residues in the crop as it enters the food supply. This residue mitigation approach will help reduce pesticide harmonization issues that US specialty crop farmers face with exporting crops to international markets.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? During the interim period of performance, (August 1, 2021 to June 22, 2022), EPA established 99tolerances based of prior IR-4 submissions. Using established extrapolations models as codified in the EPA crop groupings as well as ad-hoc suggestions, these tolerances supported the registrations of 512new uses of crop protection technology on specialty crops and minor uses on major crops. Please note that these numbers do not include proposed actions of additional new tolerances.Another accomplishement that IR-4 tracks is the submission of pesticide tolerance petititons to EPA. During the period of performance, IR-4 submitted 14tolerance petitions that involved 54specifc request for assistance that had been submitted by IR-4 public sector stakeholders. The montly accomplishments include: August 2021-37 tolerances, 217 registrations, 0 submissions September 2021-23 tolerances, 174 registrations, 2 submissions/6 stakeholder request for assistance October 2021- 220 tolerances, 655 registrations (proposed actions), 2 submissions, 7 stakeholder request for assistance November 2021-7 tolerances, 34 regisrations, 1 submission, 2stakeholder request for assistance December 2021-2 tolerances, 1 regisrations, 2 submissions, 4stakeholder request for assistance Janurary 2022-2 tolerances, 25 regisrations, 1 submission, 14stakeholder request for assistance February 2022-1 tolerance, 16 regisrations, 0 submissions March 2022-25 tolerances, 43 regisrations, 3 submissions, 6stakeholder request for assistance April 2022-27 tolerances, 128 regisrations (proposed actions), 1 submission, 15stakeholder request for assistance May 2022-2 tolerances, 2 registrations, 2 submssions, 2stakeholder request for assistance June 2022- 0tolearnces, 0registrations

Publications

• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2021 Citation: Batts, R.B., J. J. Baron, D. Kunkel, and M. P. Braverman. 2021. Update on IR-4 Weed Science Projects - Food Crops. Proc Northeastern Plant, Pest, and Soils Conference, Abstract #135.
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2021 Citation: Batts, R.B., J. J. Baron, D. L. Kunkel, and M. P Braverman. 2021. IR-4: Weed Control Project Updates - Food Crops. Proc. Southern Weed Science Society, Abstract #149.
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2021 Citation: Batts, R.B., J. J. Baron, D. L. Kunkel, and M. P Braverman. 2021. IR-4: Weed Control Project Updates - Food Crops. Weed Science Society of America, Abstract #24.
• Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2021 Citation: Homa, K., Barney, W.P., Davis, W.P., Guerrero, D., Berger, M.J., Lopez, J.L., Wyenandt, C.A. and Simon, J.E., 2021. Cold Plasma Treatment Strategies for the Control of Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. basilici in Sweet Basil. HortScience, 56(1):42-51.
• Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2021 Citation: Khang Huynh, Lea Corkidi, Elizabeth Leonard, Cristi Palmer, James Bethke, Nishanth Tharayil. 2021. Dissipation and transformation of the diamide insecticide cyantraniliprole in ornamental snapdragon (Antirrhinum majus). Chemosphere, Volume 281, 130753, ISSN 0045-6535, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chemosphere.2021.130753.
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2021 Citation: Palmer, C.L., E. Vea. 2021. Update on 2020 Weed Science Research in the IR-4 Environmental Horticulture Program. Northeastern Plant, Pest, and Soils Conference. January 2021.