Study: Pesticide Elimination Would Lead To More Imported Food

A U.S. ban on the two pesticide groups -- organophosphates and carbamates -- would result in more food imports from foreign nations, higher food prices for American consumers, less consumption of nutritionally important fruits and vegetables, lower crop yields and increased production costs for America's farmers, according to the study compiled by Texas A&M University's Agricultural and Food Policy Center and Auburn University.

According to the American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF), which sponsored the Texas A&M/Auburn study, organophosphates and carbamates face possible elimination due to the Environmental Protection Agency's flawed implementation of the Food Quality Protection Act (FQPA). AFBF is supporting legislation (H.R. 1592) that would help ensure proper implementation of FQPA.

Faced with congressionally mandated deadlines, EPA is hurriedly reviewing organophosphates and carbamates. In doing so, Farm Bureau contends the agency is relying on incomplete science, grossly inflated use rates, and a risk-assessment method devoid of any consideration for overall nutrition or the resulting health impact of imported food -- over which there is no effective U.S. control regarding chemical use.

The study -- authored by Ron Knutson and Ed Smith of Texas A&M and Robert Taylor of Auburn -- gauges the impacts of eliminating the two pesticide families based on in-depth analysis from 22 university scientists from 10 of the nation's premier land-grant universities. The scientists, specialized in production technology for specific commodities, filed reports for 14 different crops -- apples, carrots, corn, cotton, grapes, oranges, peaches, peanuts, potatoes, rice, sorghum, soybeans, tomatoes and wheat. A detailed analysis of the aggregate economic impacts regarding farmers and consumers also was compiled.

MORE IMPORTED FOOD

The study states that those and other increases in imports would result from reductions in U.S. fruit and vegetable production due to the domestic loss of the two groups of pesticides. Farmers in foreign countries, however, could reap a huge EPA-granted competitive advantage since they could still use the U.S.-banned pesticides.

According to AFBF, since residues from the pesticides are frequently absent or undetectable, using even sophisticated testing methods, there is no way to prove they were grown with the use of pesticides banned in the United States. Furthermore, even if foreign use of the pesticides could be proved, keeping the products out of the U.S. market would likely run afoul of international trading rules.

As a result, the study's authors state that, due to those higher foreign imports, there would actually be less U.S. control over the use of organophosphates and carbamates than if its use were not banned domestically.

"The incomplete science EPA is proposing to implement this law will result in all pain and no gain," said AFBF President Dean Kleckner. "We would be stripping our farmers of the tools they need to produce an abundant, affordable supply of healthy food, while at the same time turning over production of those foods to foreign farmers, who would still have access to those tools. It makes no sense to forfeit the production of food for American children to lesser-trained foreign farmers operating under far less stringent food safety rules who will be using pesticides banned in the United States."

U.S. ECONOMIC IMPACT

LOWER YIELDS, HIGHER COSTS

Despite a wide variation by crop type, the compounded effect of even the slightest yield reduction or increase in production expenses -- in light of the economic realities of today's agriculture -- would have immediate impacts on the razor-thin profit margins for producers of nearly all crops analyzed, according to AFBF.

Even producers of several commodities studied that appear to experience short-term price increases -- corn, grain sorghum, soybeans, and cotton -- would eventually see that picture erode as long-term global production levels are hiked to compensate for U.S. production shortfalls created by the pesticide ban. Global production would further slash U.S. export demand and prices would fall over the long term.

The study predicted lower U.S. yields across the board. Yields would be reduced for carrots by 7 percent; corn, 4 percent; cotton, 14 percent; grapes, 9 percent; oranges, 3 percent; peaches, 2 percent; peanuts, 9 percent; potatoes, 3 percent; rice, 8 percent; sorghum, 12 percent; soybeans, 5 percent; tomatoes, 15 percent; and wheat, 1 percent.

According to the study, per-unit production costs would increase for carrots by 4 percent; corn, 5 percent; cotton, 22 percent; grapes, 3 percent; oranges, 2 percent; peaches, 3 percent; peanuts, 7 percent; potatoes, 7 percent; rice, 8 percent; sorghum, 10 percent; soybeans, 9 percent; tomatoes, 13 percent; and wheat, 1 percent.

REGIONAL IMPACT

Cotton farmers in the Southwest and Southern Plains will see yields drop 19-21 percent and per-unit production costs rise 27-28 percent -- numbers that eclipse the national figures by 5 percentage points.

Depending on the crop, the study, in general, indicates farmers in the southeastern United States, California and Washington will feel the most severe impacts of losing the use of organophosphates and carbamates.

Commodities and Regions Found To Be Most Vulnerable to Reduced Yields and Increased Costs If Organophosphates and Carbamates Were Eliminated Commodity Region/states most adversely affected a/ Yield reduction Variable cost increase ------Percent------ Apples Washingtonb/ 38 66 Carrots Texas/Washington 25/20 3/20 Corn Southeast 5 9 Cotton Southwest/Southern Plains 21/19 27/28 Grapes California (Table) 32 32 Oranges California 15 14 Peaches Georgia 17 19 Peanuts Virginia/North Carolina 17 15 Potatoes Central States 5 13 Rice Gulf Coast 15 17 Grain Sorghum Southern Plains 14 13 Soybeans Delta 8 15 Tomatoes Florida Fresh 21 20 Wheat Southeast 5 3 a/ This table only highlights the region most adversely impacted by the loss of organophosphates and carbamates. This does not imply that other regions of the US are not impacted. b/ Only region studied.

FAMILY FARMS

"Moderate-size family farmers are relatively more vulnerable to increased price variability than part-time producers who use off-farm income to reduce risk or larger operations that are capable of internalizing risk reduction management," state the study's authors.

The authors also point out that no alternatives to the use of organophosphates and carbamates exist for some agricultural pests. Even when alternatives exist, however, crop scientists who contributed to the report expressed concern about pests developing resistance to a limited array of treatments. They stressed the importance of organophosphates and carbamates as "second or third line defenses to prevent crop failures and production shortfalls."

HIGHER FOOD PRICES

The largest retail price impact is for apples. Retail apple prices will increase by 6.24 percent, helping reduce expected consumption by 1.88 percent. Retail price increases of greater than 1 percent were also seen for: tomatoes, 5.02 percent; fruit juice, 4.17 percent; grapes, 2.22 percent; sweeteners, 2 percent; other fats and oils, 2 percent; and eggs, 1.18 percent.

"Increased retail food prices of a few percentage points, resulting in an increase of $5.90 to $8.60 in annual food expenditures, may not sound like much to people whose household income is in the mid to upper levels. However, to the household whose income is already under the poverty level, any increase in spending takes away from expenditures for other necessities and will likely result in those families eating a less nutritionally adequate diet," the authors stated.

FEWER U.S. EXPORTS

The authors emphasized that additional long-term erosion in U.S. farm exports could be expected as farmers in competing nations increase crop production.

"Implementation of FQPA will come at a price," said Kleckner. "It's only fair to expect some benefit for that cost, but the way things are heading, America's farmers and consumers will be paying more for poorer nutrition, less domestic food security and lower confidence in food safety. The only winners are foreign farmers over whom EPA has no control. No matter how you slice it, that's bad implementation of the law."

Copies of the study are available, at cost, by contacting Texas A&M at (409) 845-5913. A report summarizing the individual commodities analyzed is available on the Internet at (http://afpc1.tamu.edu/pesticides.htm), but copies of that report also are available, at cost, by calling the university. Also available, at cost, are copies of the individual commodity reports prepared by the scientists who contributed to the overall study.

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This page was last modified Tue May 11, 1999 at 01:00 am