Date: 3/30/99

Time: 3:15

Type: Symposium

Number: 171

FQPA - Impact on sweet corn

*R. Weinzierl, Department of Entomology, University of Illinois, Urbana, IL 61801
Contact e-mail: weinzier@uiuc.edu

Implementation of the Food Quality Protection Act may result in cancellations of certain pesticides that occur as residues on foods or contaminants in water. Registrations of organophosphates (OPs) and carbamates, especially the more persistent or toxic of them, for uses on fruits and vegetables are among the most likely to be revoked. In general, insecticides used shortly before harvest are among the most likely to leave residues on or in commodities. OPs and carbamates are used only rarely to protect sweet corn near harvest. Instead, pyrethroids are preferred by commercial growers for controlling European corn borer, corn earworm, and fall armyworm. Bt sweet corn will require fewer (or no) applications of insecticides to control these insects. Cancellation of registrations for the use of carbaryl when ears are present would inconvenience some small growers, but otherwise there would be little immediate or direct impact from the loss of the OPs and carbamates for application late in crop development. OPs and carbamates are used to control rootworm larvae, cutworms, and flea beetles earlier in the season. If such planting-time and seedling applications are discontinued, pyrethroids would be available and effective instead. Because alternatives to the OPs and carbamates are available, curtailment of their use would create no immediate crisis for Midwest sweet corn growers. Even so, season-long reliance on only the pyrethroids and Bt is not desirable.

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