Reducing the Environmental Risks of Pest Management

Joseph K. Bagdon

Pest Management SpecialistNRCS National Water & Climate Center

Amherst, Massachusetts

413-253-4376Joseph.Bagdon@ma.usda.gov

http://www.wcc.nrcs.usda.gov

Environmental Risk Analysis

Pest Management• Can impact soil, water and air quality

– Plants– Animals– Humans

• Direct impacts– Plants– Animals– Humans

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

Pesticide Environmental Risk - Water Quality

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Trend Analysis - Progress?

“Environmental Indicators of Pesticide Leaching and Runoff from Farm Fields”• Kellogg, Nehring, Grube, Goss, and Plotkin,

January 2002

• Environmental risk indicators for 1960 through 1997 based on:

– The National Pesticide Loss Database

– Annual estimates of pesticide use from Doane farm panel and USDA pesticide use surveys

Trend Analysis - Progress?

– Annual county estimates of acres planted

– Soils data from National Resources Inventory

– Irrigation from National Resources Inventory

– Water quality thresholds corresponding to drinking water standards (or equivalent derived from mammalian chronic toxicity data) and the maximum safe levels for chronic pesticide exposure to fish, algae and crustaceans

(http://www.nrcs.usda.gov/technical/land/pubs)

Trend Analysis - Progress?

“Trends in the Potential for Environmental Risk from Pesticide Loss from Farm Fields”• Kellogg, Nehring, Grube, Plotkin, Goss and

Wallace, January 1999

(http://www.nrcs.usda.gov/technical/land/pubs)

So what can we do about risk?

EPA Pesticide Registration Process• FIFRA, FQPA

USDA• CSREES/Extension - IPM• NRCS - New pest management policy

– Environmentally sensitive pest management in site-specific conservation planning

– Mitigation techniques, including IPM– Integrate pest management into the rest of the

conservation plan

What is 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 than 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

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.

Environmental Risk Analysis

Windows Pesticide Screening Tool • 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

• Based on the Soil/Pesticide Interaction Screening Procedure II (SPISP II)

Soil Rating Pesticide Rating

Interaction Rating

Exposure Adjusted Toxicity Rating

WIN-PST Hazard Rating

WIN-PST Factors:

Climate/Irrigation• High/Low Probability of Rainfall• High/Low Efficiency Irrigation

Site Conditions• Crop Residue Management

Soil• High Water Table (apparent)• Macropores (site-specific)• Slope (>15%)

WIN-PST Factors:

Pesticide• Toxicity

– Humans– Fish

• Management– Soil Incorporation– Foliar Application– Banded Application– “Standard”, Low Rate or Ultra Low Rate

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

Environmental Risk Analysis

Conservation planners must also address: distance to the identified water resource 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

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?

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.

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: <blank> 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%)

Appropriate Mitigation Techniques

Management Techniques - example• Substitution

Alternative low risk pesticides Low risk cultural controls Low risk biological controls

– Significant effect on leaching (+++)– Significant effect on solution runoff (+++)– Significant effect on adsorbed runoff (+++)

Appropriate Mitigation Techniques

Conservation Practices - example• Residue Management, No-till and Strip-Till

(329A) Increases infiltration Reduces soil erosion Builds soil organic matter

– Slight effect on leaching (+)– Moderate effect on solution runoff (++)– Significant effect on adsorbed runoff (+++)

NRCS Pest Management is:

Evaluating site-specific environmental risks Balancing risks with appropriate mitigation based

on Field Office Technical Guide (FOTG) quality criteria

Always fully utilizing IPM!• prevention• avoidance• monitoring• suppression

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