IR-4 Project in ‘Desperate Need’ of Additional Funding

The IR-4 Project is in “desperate need” of additional funding to continue supporting EPA registrations of crop protection products for specialty crops, and it’s seeking your help, according to an article on GrowingProduce.com.

The program has endured eight years of flat funding along with increased expenses, says Dr. Jerry J. Baron, Executive Director of the IR-4 Project, based at Rutgers University in Princeton, NJ. This is potentially hazardous for growers of fruits, nuts, vegetables, ornamentals, and herbs, Baron notes, “because IR-4 supports registrations on specialty crops when the uses are not the business objective of industry.” IR-4 develops data that is required by EPA and other regulatory authorities to support these registrations.

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For fiscal year 2019, Sen. Bob Menendez (D-NJ) is supporting an additional federal investment of $7.1 million dollars, to $19 million, “which would provide a much needed funding boost that would support specialty crop farmers nationwide,” he wrote in a letter to be sent to Senate colleagues.

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Read more at GrowingProduce.com.

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