Subject: Re: [nafex] Antibiotics for Organic Apples
Date: Sun, 21 Apr 2013 14:52:29 -0500
I thought I should chime in here, as the coordinator and board member
for the Organic Tree Fruit Association. Our organization represents
member growers with just a few trees to several thousand trees mostly
located in the Midwest. We have made formal presentations in the past
to the National Organic Standards Board (NOSB) on this issue, and did so
again this year. We proposed a "middle ground approach" that provided
for continued use in 2014 to 2019 ONLY when computer models calculated a
high blight risk. After 2019, our proposal allowed for emergency use
only to save orchard plantings, with the crop on those treated trees not
being available for sale under the organic label for that year.
One reality is that there are organic growers out there that have
purchased their ochards and are attempting to manage organically. Some
(or most) of these were not planted with fireblight resistant
rootstocks. Others have established their orchards many years ago when
fireblight resistant rootstocks were not available. The alternative
products out there (Blossom Protect, Blightban) have been trialed most
extensively in the pacific northwest, which is a completely different
growing environment than here in the midwest. To our knowledge, there
has not been any conclusive trials that these products would work for
fireblight control in the midwestern or eastern US.
It is critical to note that most of the organic growers that use
antibiotics in this area leave it untouched in the shed most years. It
is on hand for those years when there's hail, warm temps, and high
humidity and use only to avoid the possibility of using an entire
block. I know an grower near here that decided not to spray strep on a
young planting one year, and did lose that block. Trying to protect the
investment made by some organic growers was part of the reason behind
our position and proposal.
The NOSB vote to extend the use of antibiotics to tree fruit production
to 2016 did not pass. Likely, a discussion of the use for emergency
situations will be taken up at the October 2013 meeting of the NOSB.