What is the IR-4 Project?                              

Since 1963, the IR-4 Project has been the primary entity in the United States to facilitate registrations of conventional pest management and biopesticides on specialty food crops (fruits, vegetables, nuts, herbs, spices) and non-food environmental horticulture crops. IR-4 is sponsored by a grant from the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture.

The IR-4 Project in Oregon

nOregon State University hosts the IR-4 Field Research Center at North Willamette Research and Extension Center in Aurora. The research center conducts residue trials as well as efficacy and crop safety trials to support new registrations of pest management technologies.

Through the years, Oregon stakeholders have requested more than 1,300 new food uses on specialty crops. Over 600 of these have been registered and are available for farmers to use on crops ranging from berries, nuts, tree fruit, brassicas, root vegetables, herbs, hops and grasses. These are only part of the thousands of new registrations IR-4 has secured for Oregon growers and others in the west. Many new registrations and uses have also resulted from IR-4 projects on environmental horticulture crops.

Examples of pest management registration expansions resulting from recent Oregon requests

Ann Rasmussen serves as Oregon’s State Liaison Representative to the IR-4 Project. In this role Ann works with Oregon’s specialty crop stakeholders to identify pest management needs and potential solutions, while advocating for IR-4 projects to support Oregon specialty crops.