The environmental impact of pesticides applied in the integrated apple production system in operation in Trentino: preliminary results

Increasing awareness of the potential adverse health and environmental effects of pesticides has pushed the apple industry to adopt integrated control strategies aimed at reducing their use and replacing the most toxic compounds. In this context integrated apple production guidelines have been applied in Trentino since 1991. As a consequence, restrictions on the use of pesticides were imposed. The selection of pesticides permitted for use has only taken into consideration the acute and chronic toxicity as well as side effects to beneficial organisms. More recently, the reduction of pesticide residues on fruit at harvest has increased in importance and is an issue that is taken into consideration in choosing pesticides for IFP. To monitor the success of this policy in terms of reduction of the risk associated with the use of pesticides, the quantity of pesticides applied per unit of surface area is generally used. Currently, it has become increasingly apparent that pesticide weight is not sufficient to estimate the hazard and exposure characteristics of pesticides and a variety of Pesticide Risk Indicators (PRI) have been developed to more accurately estimate the impacts of pest control products. This work refers to the application of one such risk index, the Environmental Impact Quotient (EIQ), to estimate the hazard posed by pesticide usage in the apple production system operating in Trentino. For this study, a set of 79 farms was sampled, comprising an area of 247ha and split into 740 scattered plots. Pesticide risk was calculated by multiplying the amount of pesticide used (kilograms of active ingredient) on each farm by the EIQ, a score for the potential risk of pesticides to farmworkers, consumers, and the environment. The standardized EIQ/ha was then obtained by dividing total EIQ/farm by the area of the single farm. The average EIQ field rating calculated for the 79 farms was 1171 (± 456 std. dev.); mineral oil treatments accounted for 52.2% of the total score, fungicides for 41.4% and insecticides for 4.1%. These results are discussed along with two of the major criticisms that are made regarding to the use of this PRI.