Will the USDA IPM Centers and the National IPM Roadmap Increase IPM Accountability?—Responses to the 2001 General Accounting Office Report

Abstract

In September 1993 (U.S. Congress 1993) the Clinton Administration established a goal of IPM implementation on 75% of the nation’s managed agricultural acres by 2000. In 1994, the USDA began a new IPM initiative that was designed to achieve this goal through the enhanced coordination and cooperation of several federal agencies including the Office of Pest Management Policy (OPMP), Agricultural Research Service (ARS), CSREES, Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), Forest Service, National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS), and Economic Research Service (ERS). The government has continued to support that initiative; in fiscal year 2000, the USDA spent approximately $170 million in the continuing effort to improve IPM adoption (GAO 2001). In September 2000, U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Deputy Secretary Richard Rominger announced the creation of regional pest management centers. The centers were funded under the authority of the fiscal year 2000 Agriculture Appropriations Act pursuant to Section 406 of the Agricultural Research, Extension, and Education Reform Act of 1998 (AREERA) (7 U.S.C. 7626). In a press release that proclaimed the creation of these new centers, Rominger was quoted: “USDA has placed a high priority on the establishment of Regional Pest Management Centers as a means of strengthening its connection with production agriculture, research, and Extension programs, and agricultural stakeholders throughout the United States.” Susan T. Ratcliffe and Michael E. Gray Will the USDA IPM Centers and the National IPM Roadmap Increase IPM Accountability?—Responses to the 2001 General Accounting Office Report