In This Issue:-
Proposed EPA rules would impact fumigation -
Florida strawberry growers dodge freeze
Florida Focus
Proposed EPA rules would impact fumigation
A proposal by the Environmental Protection Agency to strengthen safety measures surrounding soil fumigant use could have devasting effects on growers of strawberries and other crops near urban areas.
Commodity group leaders outlined their concerns during several educational sessions at the day-long Florida Ag Expo, Nov. 5, in Balm.
Known as Reregistration Eligibility Decisions or REDs, the plan is part of the agency’s pesticide reregistration process. The EPA took comments on the proposal through Oct. 30 and is expected to publish final regulations in the Federal Register in 2009.
Among the new procedures that fumigant users would have to follow are:
• Requiring all workers in the field wear appropriate respirators, and the respirators would have to be tested for fit annually. Fumigation crews also would have to receive specialized safety training.
• Requiring 1/4-mile buffers between treated fields and sensitive areas, such as churches, daycare center, schools and prisons. The size of the buffer also would depend on the rate of fumigant used and the numbers of acres treated per day. If VIF, or virtually impenetrable film, were used to cover the beds, users could receive up to a 40 percent reduction in buffer size.
• Developing fumigant management plans, which include best management practices.
For the state’s strawberry industry—which has an average farm size of 114 acres, most of which are interspersed among housing—the proposal could be financially devastating, says Ted Campbell, executive director of the Plant City-based Strawberry Growers Association.
“The needed training and air monitoring costs an average of $24,000 per farm, so we’re seeing some pretty significant pain here,” Campbell says. “But the buffer zone is the knock-out punch.”
The buffer zones would take about 4,920 of the state’s 8,200 strawberry acres out of production, he says. Using a three-year production average of 2,300 flats per acre, that would mean a loss of 11.5 million flats valued at $162 million. If you add in collateral damage to ancillary businesses, such as ag chem dealers and box manufacturers, the damage figure climbs to $300 million, Campbell says.
To view the EPA’s proposal, visit http://www.epa.gov.
Florida strawberry growers dodge freeze
By Doug Ohlemeier, The Packer
Early season festival strawberries grow in late November. Florida strawberry grower-shippers prepared for freezing temperatures the night of Wednesday, Nov. 19. Temperatures
fell into the mid-30s overnight, into Nov. 20, but not enough to freeze the young berries.
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Florida strawberry growers survived a second night of colder than normal temperatures.
Temperatures during the early morning hours of Nov. 20 fell into the mid-30s but not enough to freeze the young berries.
Sal Toscano, sales manager for Grimes Produce Co. LLC, Plant City, Fla., said growers were fortunate to have escaped an early season freeze. He said growers were up all night the night before watching their fields.
Ken Andrews, sales manager of Parkesdale Packing & Cooling Inc., the sales arm of Dover, Fla.-based Parkesdale Farms, said eastern Hillsborough County received some frost, but no damage. Parkesdale Farms’ growers ran irrigation water to prevent freezing of the berries. Andrews said the temperature fell to 34 degrees.
In late November, some Florida strawberry growers were harvesting select berries from their young plants.
Most growers expect to start harvesting in early December with promotable volumes hitting in late December.
E-mail Doug Ohlemeier
