June 27, 2005

ISSUE 1069

METHYL BROMIDE ALTERNATIVES RESEARCH SUMMIT TACKLES NATIONAL MANAGEMENT STRATEGY ISSUES

Prior to the submission of any additional methyl bromide critical use nomination petitions to be considered at the international level, nominating countries must first provide what is called a national management strategy (NMS). This NMS asks methyl bromide critical use nominating countries to define how they will:

- avoid any increase in methyl bromide consumption;
- encourage the use of alternatives through expedited procedures, to develop, register and deploy technically and economically feasible alternatives;
- provide information for each use for which a nomination is planned on the potential market penetration of newly deployed alternatives, to bring forward the time when methyl bromide consumption for such uses can be reduced or eliminated;
- promote the implementation of measures which ensure that any emissions of methyl bromide are minimized; and,
- demonstrate how the NMS will be implemented to promote the phase-out of methyl bromide as technically and economically feasible alternatives are available, describing the progress of each Party with respect to research programs and adoption of alternatives.

FFVA has been working to assure that the Florida/southeast US specific conditions necessary to make this a credible national effort are considered by the US government as they draft this important document. On June 21 and 22, FFVA's Environmental and Pest Management Division hosted the third in a series of NMS research meetings. This particular summit focused on:

- outlining the status of current research on methyl bromide alternatives and emission reduction;
- developing a strategy that enhances the efficacy and consistency of currently identified alternatives to methyl bromide, that maximizes efficacy while reducing emissions of methyl bromide used under the critical use exemption, provides the research foundation and extension framework to expeditiously transfer economically viable alternatives to the production industry, and documents the datasets that accurately reflect conditions of use of methyl bromide and alternatives under currently economically viable production practices;
- developing information matrices to describe the status of alternatives research for national and internationally identified methyl bromide alternatives;
- discussing the coordination and priorities of existing research needs across the commodities and pests identified through the CUE process; and,
- discussing current funding levels and needed resources to accomplish the priority goals developed at the summit.

The summit was attended by researchers from the University of Florida (Gainesville, Gulf Coast REC and Lake Alfred REC), USDA ARS (Ft. Pierce, Washington DC and Beltsville, MD), the University of Georgia - Tifton, county extension specialists, other commodity associations and growers. These researchers will be addressing specific assigned tasks in the coming weeks in advance of a subsequent research summit scheduled for mid-August. The Florida/southeast US component of the NMS has to be submitted by mid-September for consideration and incorporation into the US government's complete NMS.

 

 

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