NRCS Pest Management

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NRCS Pest Management

• Joseph K. Bagdon
• Pest Management SpecialistNRCS National Water
  Climate Center Amherst, Massachusetts413-253-43
  76Joseph.Bagdon_at_ma.usda.govhttp//www.wcc.nrcs.u
  sda.gov

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NRCS Pest Management

• A component of Conservation Planning
• Pest Management Standard (595) applies wherever
  pests will be managed and it requires IPM where
  it is available!
• More that just efficacy and economics
• RMS plans must address all pest management
  related resource concerns
• Farm Bill programs (EQIP and CSP) can be used to
  help producers implement environmentally friendly
  pest management!

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Pest Management Componentof a Conservation Plan

• Minimum Plans and Specifications for the Pest
  Management (595) Standard include
• Environmental risk analysis, with approved tools
  and/or procedures, for probable pest management
  recommendations by crop (if applicable) and pest.
• Interpretation of the environmental risk analysis
  and identification of appropriate mitigation
  techniques.

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Environmental Risk Analysis

• Pest Management
• Biological control risks
• Cultural control risks
• Soil quality aspects of tillage for weed control
• evaluate with RUSLE 2, WEQ, SCI
• Pesticide control risks
• Air quality
• Air Quality Technical Note - drift and
  volatilization
• Water quality
• evaluate with Windows Pesticide Screening Tool

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Environmental Risk Analysis

• Windows Pesticide Screening Tool
• WIN-PST is used to evaluate
• site-specific soils
• probable pesticide recommendations
• WIN-PST provides
• Soil/Pesticide Loss Ratings
• the potential to move offsite
• Soil/Pesticide Hazard Ratings
• offsite movement potential combined with exposure
  adjusted toxicity rating

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Environmental Risk Analysis

• WIN-PST only provides risk estimates for
  pesticide losses in water that moves
• beyond the edge of the field
• below the bottom of the root zone

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Environmental Risk Analysis

• Conservation planners must also address
• distance to identified water resources
• flow path characteristics
• through the vadose zone
• from the edge of the field to the water body
• characteristics of the watershed
• characteristics of the waterbody

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Environmental Risk Analysis

• Conservation planners must identify specific
  resource concerns and what level of treatment
  will be needed
• Ground Water?
• Human drinking water and/or fish habitat?
• Surface Water?
• Human drinking water and/or fish habitat?
• Solution and/or adsorbed losses impacting aquatic
  species?

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Mitigating Pesticide Environmental Risk

• Mitigation
• The process of minimizing the potential for
  harmful impacts of pest management activities on
  soil, water, air, plant, and animal resources
  through the application of conservation practices
  and/or management techniques.
• Mitigation Techniques
• Management Techniques
• Pesticide application method, rate and timing,
  etc.
• Conservation Practices
• Residue Management, Filter Strip, Irrigation
  Water Management, etc.

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Basic Mitigation Categories

• Reduce quantity of pesticide applied
• Utilize less hazardous pesticides
• Prevent pesticide from moving away from its point
  of efficacy (in field)
• Prevent pesticide from leaving the field (bottom
  of root zone - edge of field)

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Appropriate Mitigation Techniques

• Mitigation Effectiveness Guide -Reducing
  Pesticide Impacts on Water Quality
• Management Techniques (9 categories)
• Conservation Practices (74 practices)
• In the field
• At the edge of the field
• Relative effectiveness by pesticide loss pathway
  
• ltblankgt is no effect
• or - slight effect on the resource (up to 15
  change)
• or -- moderate effect on the resource (up to
  25)
• or --- is significant effect on the resource
  (up to 50)

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Appropriate Mitigation Techniques

• IPM helps mitigate environmental risks!
• IPM (where available) is required by our standard
• Prevention
• Avoidance
• Monitoring
• Suppression
• But alternatives must be evaluated for
• Economics,
• Efficacy, and
• Environmental risks!

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Partnerships

• We cannot succeed alone. We need to develop and
  maintain close ties with
• Extension
• Crop Consultants
• State Agricultural Agencies
• Commodity Groups
• Agrichemical Dealers
• and anyone else who influences pest management
  recommendations...

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Partnerships

• Others focus on Efficacy and Economics.
• NRCS focuses on Environmental Risk and
  appropriate mitigation strategies.
• Efficacy, Economics and Environmental Risk must
  all be integrated in the pest management decision
  making process.
• Farm Bill programs can provide incentives for
  implementing reduced risk alternatives.
• Need to work together!

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What about Technical Service Providers?

• TSPs must be able to do the work of an NRCS
  conservation planner.
• TSPs may also cover efficacy and economics,
  however, this information can come from other
  sources as well - note that this is not the
  primary reason for TSPs.
• NRCS Conservation Planners typically get efficacy
  and economics information for their conservation
  plans from other sources, primarily Extension.

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Implementing Pest Management

• The scope of NRCS pest management activities will
  vary widely across the country
• Variance based on
• natural resource needs
• state or local regulations
• agency resources
• relationships with partners - opportunity

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NRCS Pest Management is

• Evaluating site-specific environmental risks
• Including appropriate mitigation in the
  conservation plan based on Field Office Technical
  Guide (FOTG) quality criteria
• Fully utilizing IPM!
• prevention
• avoidance
• monitoring
• suppression

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For More Information

• USDA-NRCS National Water Climate Center
• www.wcc.nrcs.usda.gov
• Water Quality
• Pest Management
• NRCS Pest Management Policy
• WIN-PST Windows Pesticide Screening Tool
• NAPRA National Agricultural Pesticide Risk
  Analysis
• NWCC Core 4 Pest Management
• NEDC Pest Management Course Materials
• Links
• Integrated Pest Management
• Pesticide Data
• Soils Data