05/31/07 Transition Program

Transition Program. I'm Greg Martin with today's Fruit Grower Report. Yesterday we talked with Jim McFerson with the Washington Tree Fruit Research Commission about how the tree fruit industry is working toward the phase out of certain pesticides and recently the state legislature got into the picture as well. MCFERSON: In the recent session of the state legislature, funding was approved for a state pest management transition program. There hasn't been a lot about it. This was through the combined efforts of Jim Hazen at Washington State Horticultural Association and Jay Bruner here at WSU in Wenatchee along with our Research Commission presented a proposal to the legislature for a program to transition us from organophosphates into integrated pest management programs for our principal pests over the next 3 years. According to McFerson that project has been funded at 550-thousand dollars. MCFERSON: And those funds will be used in an implementation and outreach program throughout the state to help our growers meet federal regulations well ahead of the proposed deadline. One of the current projects that the legislature is funding is an air monitoring system where a number of stations around the state will "sniff" the air for certain chemicals. McFerson feels that money would have been better spent. MCFERSON: Let's face it, if the legislature voted as much money for this program as they did for our think of how much more quickly we would have gotten to our goal if we would have been able to double our budget  get there twice as fast rather than sniffing air that is already safe. Well, in my opinion is already safe but we're open for monitoring but we just want to get on with it. That's today's Fruit Grower Report. I'm Greg Martin on the Northwest Ag Information Network.