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Pest Management Strategic Plans
The availability of safe and effective pest management tools is
critically important to both conventional and organic growers as
they try to reduce severe economic losses due to insect, disease,
weed, nematode and vertebrate pests.
To assist in the transition to reduced risk pest management and
to adjust to the potential loss of crop protection chemicals due
to regulatory actions (e.g. the Food Quality Protection Act), US-EPA
and USDA have recommended that each commodity develops a long term
plan to address their pest management needs. These documents are
called “Pest Management Strategic Plans (PMSPs)”.
The California Specialty Crops Council has worked with its members
to develop Pest Management Strategic Plans (PMSPs). These documents
have been beneficial as they have been directly used by commodities
to direct their own research programs (e.g. in developing a “Request
for Proposal”). These plans are also valued resources which
have been used by agencies such as EPA, USDA, IR-4 and the California
Department of Pesticide Regulation in developing grant programs,
conducting risk assessments, and prioritizing new product registrations.
The CSCC continues to develop PMSPs for its newest members; current
strategic plans are considered “working”documents and
will be periodically updated to reflect the ongoing issues and needs
of each commodity.
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