Pesticides

Minor crops, including fruits, nuts, and ornamentals, accounted for more than 40 percent of the $30 billion in U.S. agricultural crop sales in 1990. Pesticides used to protect minor crops against insects and diseases have come under increasing scrutiny, and those registered before November 1984 must be reregistered with the Environmental Protection Agency by 1997 to ensure that they meet current health and environmental standards. The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is assisting with the reregistration process for minor crops through its Interregional Research Project No. 4 (IR-4), which relies on data from government, industry, and state universities. This briefing report examines (1) the status of the research that IR-4 coordinates to support the registration and reregistration of pesticides used on minor crops, (2) how IR-4 makes use of its resources, and (3) steps USDA has taken to ensure the availability of pesticides for use of minor crops after 1997.

GAO found that: (1) IR-4 will not complete the research and analysis necessary to support the registration and reregistration of high-priority pesticides for use on minor crops by the 1997 deadline; (2) the research project situation arose because of past and present funding limitations; (3) since the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and industry are involved in the registration process, increasing IR-4 funding alone would not ensure that pesticides are available for all minor crops; (4) growers could lose income through reductions in crop volume and quality, and consumers could see higher prices and lower quality; (5) IR-4 officials believe that their resources are used effectively because of the existing land grant university infrastructure, its research agenda, which includes those pesticides most likely to be approved by EPA, and annual reviews of its research priorities; and (6) USDA was slow to respond to the concern about the availability of pesticides for use on minor crops after 1997 and did not request funding to implement a plan to help ensure pesticide availability.