03/30/07 Postharvest Fungicide for Exports

One of the major issues in dealing with exporting fruit to Canada has been in the chemistry. Finding the right fungicide can make or break your exports. Kelly Still, postharvest marketing manager for Syngenta Crop Protection says up until now, the choices have been limited. STILL: Some of the products that have been registered have been the older products. Recently EPA has registered some new active ingredients and new products for postharvest use. The older products are plagued with some fungicide resistance issues and the newer products such as Scholar® are much more broad-spectrum and they don't have resistance issues. Syngenta's Scholar® postharvest fungicides have been granted maximum residue levels (MRLs) in Canada. STILL: This coming summer they'll be able to use it there which means that there is a full export tolerance for pome fruit and stone fruit that's treated in the U.S. to be exported into Canada. Still says the product is non-systemic and will effectively protect produce from disease after harvest. STILL: So since Scholar® is not used and that active ingredient is not used in the crop it will only be used in the packing house and it's a broader-spectrum product, it controls most all of the diseases for stone fruits and pome fruits and it doesn't break down in storage so it gives consistence control throughout the storage period. That's today's Fruit Grower Report. I'm Greg Martin on the Northwest Ag Information Network.