IR-4 Project Scope

Since 1963, the IR-4 Project has work in a unique partnership of producers, researchers, the crop protection industry and federal agencies to increase pest management tools for specialty crops.

The program expanded its efforts in the 1990s to include: the legal requirements of Good Laboratory Practices; a Biopesticides grant and regulatory assistance program; and a Methyl Bromide Alternatives Program. The Food Quality Protection Act (FQPA) of 1996 dictated a safer approach to crop protection, which includes a greater emphasis on using reduced-risk and safer chemistries, Integrated Pest Management (IPM) and biologically based products. Reduces-risk compounds now account for around 80% of the IR-4 food use program. The Biopesticides program funded 40 individual projects in 2003.

IR-4 makes significant contributions of residue data so that EPA can approve time-limited tolerances for State Section 18 emergency pest control exemptions. The estimated economic loss savings from 1998, 1999 and 2000 were more than $2.2 billion.

Penn State | College of Agricultural Sciences | Office of Research and Graduate Education

IR-4: The Minor Use Program (Home)
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What is a specialty crop? | What IR-4 does for you?

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Last modified Friday, February 13, 2004 14:28