Kansas Ag Connection - Sensitive, Organic Crop Growers Should Register Crop Sites

Kansas Ag News Headlines

Sensitive, Organic Crop Growers Should Register Crop Sites
Kansas Ag Connection - 04/04/2007

Growers of organic and sensitive crops are encouraged to post their crop locations on a web page hosted by the Kansas Department of Agriculture's pesticide and fertilizer program, so pesticide applicators will know where to use extra caution to prevent drift.

"Each year, the number of acres devoted to sensitive and organic crops in Kansas grows," said Gary Meyer, manager of the pesticide and fertilizer program. "With that expansion comes increased concern that sensitive and organic crops will be impacted by pesticide drift."

The most common herbicide-sensitive crops in Kansas are cotton, grapes, tomatoes, and fruit and nut trees. Exposure to minute concentrations of some of the more commonly used hormone-type herbicides can result in crop damage or failure. Organic growers could lose their USDA certified organic status if any type of pesticide, including insecticides and fungicides, are detected in their crops.

Meyer hopes that by making sensitive and organic crop locations available to applicators via the Internet, opportunities for drift will be reduced.

"When drift occurs, it's a violation of the product label and the applicator can be assessed a monetary penalty and lose his or her certification," Meyer said. "We prefer a more proactive approach, and we are doing what we can to prevent drift from happening in the first place."

To be eligible for listing on the website, a crop must be grown for commercial purposes and represent a legitimate source of income for the grower; be known for its propensity to be economically damaged by herbicides that volatilize readily; or, if organic, be produced under an organic certification program.

Growers who want to list a crop location on the website can access a request form at www.ksda.gov/pesticides_fertilizer/content/177. Applicators can use the same web address to access sensitive crop location information.