• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to footer
Minor Use Foundation

Minor Use Foundation

  • About
    • Mission & Vision
    • Board
    • Partners
  • Programs
    • Residue Programs
    • Residue Program Process
    • Residue Program: Asia Pacific
    • Residue Program: Latin America
    • Program Map
    • Future Priorities
  • Events
    • Global Minor Use Priority Setting Workshop
  • Resources
  • Contact Us
  • DONATE
    • Ways to Give
    • IRA Distribution
Get Updates

Joint Residue Work for Specialty Crop MRLs

The Specialty (Minor) Crop Problem

  • Specialty crops are high-valued, internationally traded commodities, but new plant protection products (often more targeted and lower-risk) are not widely available to farmers.
  • Plant protection manufacturers often do not have economic incentive to generate residue/efficacy data necessary for registrations or MRLs.
  • Some governments have created “minor use” programs to generate this data in order to obtain new products for their farmers – this mechanism is very important when needing to quickly address emergency pest/disease outbreaks.
  • Generating data is expensive – no country can work on this alone. If data from one country is used to establish international MRLs (Codex), the MRLs may not be relevant to grower needs/use patterns in another country.

Partnerships are Essential

  • Generating data in several countries, at the same time, together, helps farmers gain new products quickly.
  • Joint work saves money, as costs are shared between several countries.
  • A wider distribution of data ensures that Codex MRLs are more relevant to all farmers across the world.
  • If coordinated with IR-4 projects, joint work will ensure that U.S. MRLs are also established. 
  • Provides regulators with more robust data.

Vision

  • A network of partners across the world will work together to generate residue data necessary for local registrations and establishing MRLs (Codex, U.S., other national).
  • Annually, partners and stakeholders will discuss farmer priorities for new pest control products and MRLs needs, while sharing new or potential pest threats that need to be addressed quickly.
  • Partners will then develop plans to distribute and share work assignments; location of trials, number of trials, timing of trials, resources available.
  • Data generated under cooperative work will be publically available and used both for national registration and international standard (MRL) setting needs.

Mechanism

  • For each collaborative study, partners will each need to conduct and analyse between 1-6 trials, depending on the crop and number of partners involved.
  • The Minor Use Foundation (MUF), via IR-4 and other supporting institutions, will provide coordination to identify and prioritize work among partners.
  • MUF will offer technical assistance to partners on training and guidance for conducting supervised residue trials (both field and laboratory).
  • As a work-sharing effort, MUF, IR-4, research partners, plant protection registrants, grower/exporter associations, and other stakeholders will need to develop a funding plan which will need to be tailored for each study, according to each countries’ unique situation for each project.
  • Sources of funding for each project will generally include the following:
• Project CoordinationMUF
• Field Access/Crop PurchaseGrower/Exporter Association
• Labor Field ApplicationsPartner’s own staff
• Labor Laboratory AnalysisPartner’s own staff
• Labor Quality AssurancePartner’s own staff
• Equipment/SuppliesPartner, MUF, others, as needed
• Registration Fees/SupportPlant Protection Registrant
• Efficacy RequirementsPlant Protection Registrant or Partner staff

Learn more about our joint residue work process here.

Footer

Minor Use Foundation, Inc.

500 College Road East
Suite 201W
Princeton, NJ 08540 USA

+1-336-209-5398

info@minorusefoundation.org

  • About
  • Programs
  • Events
  • Resources
  • Contact Us
  • Donate
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of Use

Newsletter

Stay informed on the latest activities of the Minor Use Foundation by signing up to receive our Newsletter!

Copyright © 2021 Minor Use Foundation