SIR as a marketing tool?


Despite codlingmoth control program’s growing acclaim, fruit industry isn’t taking full advantage. By Judie Steeves


A


lthough the B.C. Fruit Growers Association annually passes resolutions affirming its support for the Okanagan Sterile Insect Release program, and the international community is impressed with it, not all growers are as dazzled.


And, the industry hasn’t yet made use of the area-wide program to market fruit as it could — fruit grown using far fewer pesticides than fruit from other regions because of the SIR program.


Yet, again this year, SIR is on the international stage, nominated by the national Pesticide Risk Reduction Program of Agriculture and Agri-food Canada, for the Integrated Pest Management Achievement Award. It will be presented this spring in Salt Lake City at the eighth international IPM Symposium.


Last summer, the program hosted a high-level international IPM and Sterile Insect Technology research meeting in Kelowna on behalf of the Canadian government, as part of the joint Food and Agriculture Organization/International Atomic Energy Agency Program.


SIR manager Cara Nelson has been asked to address Salt Lake City delegates as part of a session organized by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, focusing on the role of partnerships and stakeholder collaboration in the success of region-wide IPM programs. The program began more than 20 years ago as a co- operative effort of the community and industry, with funding from provincial and federal governments to construct the $7 million codling moth rearing and irradiation facility in Osoyoos and operational funding annually comes from regional districts and growers. It’s governed by a board made up of regional district directors and industry representatives. The idea was to reduce the number of chemicals orchardists used to control the invasive moth’s larva stage the iconic worm in the apple, particularly since they were becoming immune to the effects of those pesticides.


Moth population plummets


Today, the volume of pesticides that once were used against the codling moth here has dropped 96 per cent since 1991 and there’s been a 90 per cent reduction in moth populations. On average, growers apply less than one spray a season against this pest, compared to three or more prior to the program, and many growers haven’t had to spray for the past 15 years for codling moth.


“Growers are making money because of our program,” notes Nelson.


In fact, last year a benefit-cost analysis of the program was conducted by Lee Cartier of the Okanagan School of Business at Okanagan College.


He found that the benefit to producers from pesticide costs, 24 Cara Nelson


pest monitoring cost savings and codling moth injury reduction is $395 an acre. In addition, he found that 90.4 per cent of residents value the reduced pesticide use to the tune of $800,000 to $2 million a year. The region also benefits from employment created by the program, he noted.


Cartier’s study also looked at alternatives for expanding the program, since it is a victim of its own success (fewer moths need to be irradiated annually because there are fewer ‘hot spots’ where the codling moth is causing damage in orchards), yet the facility is still needed to keep moths under control in the area.


Broadly, he looked at two options:


a strategy for exporting sterile moths to regions outside the Okanagan and a strategy to diversify the facility to tackle such pests as Spotted Wing Drosophila (SWD) in soft fruit. He found that both would be beneficial, although the costs wouldn’t permit them to be implemented together. In the short term, Cartier recommended the export strategy, while investing in research and development to reduce the uncertainty of using SIT to control SWD.


Commitment needed


The latter option also requires a change to the program’s legislation and a commitment by the federal government to fund needed research on the use of SIT on other insect pests. At this year’s BCFGA annual meeting, growers expressed interest in expanding the area-wide pest management program’s mandate to include other pests, and also passed a resolution calling on the association to explore the promotional benefit of the SIR program and promote the environmental friendliness of the industry, with the idea of increasing demand for local apples and pears by raising awareness of the program.


Nelson agrees that decisions need to be made by industry to keep the program sustainable. There hasn’t been a tax increase in the program since 2010, despite the decreasing orchard acreage and resultant reduction in parcel taxes. This year’s budget of $4.7 million was also formulated to hold the line on tax increases.


However, she points out that the program has not been set up as a commercial organization so it is limited in what it can do to market its product to other regions, so option one is really beyond the current capabilities of program staff. And, option two would require research, which is also outside the mandate and abilities of the program. “We’re not a research facility and few researchers appear to be interested in this area of research,” she notes. Yet, small family farms such as operate in the Okanagan and Similkameen need the co-operative model of area-wide pest management to achieve such success, she adds.


British Columbia FRUIT GROWER • Spring 2015


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36