For Washington, the nation's third leading producer of minor crops, that's a migraine headache. To help minor crop growers cope, the state legislature created the Pesticide Registration Commission in 1995. The 17-member commission runs a minor crops research program to help growers of minor crops obtain and maintain pesticide registrations. The commission, headquartered at Washington State University's Tri-Cities campus, holds public meetings throughout the state to solicit and review proposals from growers. During its first two years, the commission has funded 80 projects and considered another 27.
Funding comes from a variety of sources.
Most of the research needed to qualify a pesticide for registration or re-registration occurs in Washington. About a third occurs in neighboring Oregon and Idaho, which also may benefit from registered and re- registered products. Work that cannot be done in the three states is farmed out to a handful of specialized labs around the country. Registrations for food crops normally take three to four years, including data generation, report writing, and review by state and federal regulatory agencies. Registrations for non-food crops, such as flower bulbs, take less.