Many traditional farm organizations now have entire company divisions that are dedicated to organic production, and most major agrichemical manufacturers have organically certified pest control or fertility products for sale to these end users. In the fresh fruits and vegetables markets, organics are the most rapidly growing sector of the world produce marketplace, but one that is also wrought with crop fertility, pest control, and post harvest quality challenges. These issues demand intensive product development efforts by credible science professionals at all levels, if market demands are to be met in the future. Twenty, 30, and 40 percent yield losses are commonplace in organically managed vegetable and fruit fields, and in periods of peak insect or disease activity, entire crops are lost from a lack of effective pest controls. Commercially, these losses are simply unacceptable and unsustainable in the long term. Field isolation during these critical periods, lowering of market quality standards, and reduced produce availability are all short term solutions to this dilemma, but new organically acceptable products are urgently needed to help nurish the crop plants, control the pest organsms, and give the farm manager more control over the growing operation.

Pacific Ag Research has helped develop and register many of the organically certified products in use today. OMRI (Organic Materials Review Institute) guidelines for organic certification are incorporated into specific field testing and registration protocols for clients with candidate products for this lucrative market. Biological colonial suspensions such as soil inoculants are challenged in field microplots where specific pathogenic species are introduced and the product is tested for effectiveness in controlling pathogenicity on the susceptible crop. With alternative insect control products, mineral dusts, biological suspensions of viruses, bacteria, entomophagus fungi, or predatory or parasitic insect species are tested in large block crop settings where pest populations are well established. Laboratory trials are also conducted with suspensions of biologicals in early stages, but for registration purposes, field data are always recommended. Although the registration requirements are abbreviated for these products, they are still required to be statistically effective and free of synthetic materials in their manufacture or final formulation. Our staff can counsel the product manager on these guidelines for organic product development, and help position it in the market long before the first study begins.