Apple Futures New Zealands low pesticide residue apple production programme

Abstract

Apple Futures was a 3year initiative (200810) to implement a low pesticide residue production system for New Zealand apple growers targeting European Union (EU) supermarket food safety initiatives Its objectives included reducing pesticide residues to 8804;10 of the EU maximum residue limit and a maximum of three residues detected in any sample By 2010 >65 of export crops were grown following the Apple Futures programme that maximised early season disease management repositioned all pesticide use to minimise residues and increased use of noninsecticidal methods No insecticide residues were detected in 72 of crops while the remainder had very low residues New Zealands maritime climate restricted disease management outcomes; low residues of captan were found in most crops only 9 had no fungicide residues An economic analysis of Apple Futures found no impact on production costs while it preserved 113M in market revenue from EU exports between 2008 and 2011