Through the efforts of many, great advances have been made in crop protection and crop production to meet the food needs of a growing population. Minor uses of pest control products (uses on specialty crops) have also made great strides, which is important as they make the greatest contribution to a healthy diet. These great strides have also brought with it the ability to provide highly effective integrated pest management (IPM) solutions to growers which also mean a higher level of safety to applicators, consumers and the environment.<br/><br/>The United States has been fortunate to have the IR-4 Program, that is recognized by the international community as a model program, to help specialty crop growers obtain legal access to safe and effective pest management technology. Over the years, IR-4 has developed numerous partnerships with other countries to share the burden of developing regulatory data to register products for minor uses. The global capacity building projects in the ASEAN region, the sub-Sahara Africa, and in Latin/South America will also lead to future collaborative research projects to address minor use needs and hasten IPM implementation. Many other “tools of harmonization” have been developed and are being implemented to provide tools for growers while enforcing the highest level of safety for consumers. Some of these tools include: crop grouping, extrapolation proposals or models that allow data on certain representative crops to be used to support registration on multiple crops within a group; and the OECD MRL calculator. The progress continues, but the needs remain high. The first Global Minor Use Workshop (September of 2015) identified nearly 3,000 grower pest control needs. Addressing these needs can only be accomplished through continued cooperation and expansion in the area of research and in the area regulatory policies that encourage robust decisions made as a global community.

Harmonized approaches to crop protection for minor uses: Past, present, and future

252nd National Meeting (2016)

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.