Many traditional farm organizations dedicate entire company divisions 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 in the world produce marketplace. This growth, however, is one that is also wrought with crop fertility, pest control, and post-harvest quality challenges. Such quality issues demand intensive product development efforts by credible science professionals. Yield losses of 20-40% 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 consequences of this dilemma. New organically acceptable products are urgently needed to nourish crop plants, control pest organisms, and give the farm managers more control over their growing operations.

Pacific Ag has helped develop and register most 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 inoculates are challenged in field micro-plots where specific pathogenic species are introduced and the product is tested for effectiveness in controlling pathogenicity on the susceptible crop.

Standard organic operating procedures include scientific methods for development of insect control products, mineral dusts, biological suspensions of viruses, bacteria, entomophagus fungi, or predatory and parasitic insect species in large block crop settings. Laboratory trials are also conducted with suspensions of biologicals in early stages. For product registration purposes, field data is essential. Although the registration requirements are streamlined 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 organic product development guidelines and help position products in the market long before the first study begins.