President Obama's FY 2013 budget proposal to Congress eliminated funding for USDA’s IR-4 Project. Growers of fruits, vegetables, herbs, ornamentals and other minor uses of pest management products depend on the IR-4 Project to facilitate the regulatory approval of pest management tools. IR-4 data has supported 25,000 crop uses. Michigan State University has estimated that the Federal government’s investment of $18 million in the IR-4 Project contributes over $7.2 Billion annual Gross Domestic Product and supports over 104,000 jobs.
When drafting the FY 2014 we urge the President to maintain destinct funding of at least $12 million annually for a discrete Minor Crop Pest Management (IR-4) within USDA-NIFA Research and Education Activities.