Meanwhile, many are at work to develop what Ted Alway calls a "third way." Between "chemical" farming and "non-chemical," or "organic" farming, is another way of doing things, says Alway. Call it "eco-," "green," "sustainable," whatever.

Alway is coordinator for the Codling Moth Areawide Management Program, a cooperative program involving WSU, USDA, and other agencies, one of those middle-way approaches that everyone is happy with. A central tactic in this program is the use of codling moth mating disruption.

Mating disruption essentially confuses harmful insects so they don't reproduce. This is typically accomplished by distributing throughout the orchard strips that give off a sex pheromone, either misleading the hapless insect or confusing it.

The main target of mating disruption in central Washington is the codling moth. The worm in your apple is, typically, the larva of the codling moth. The insect is enormously destructive. The larva enters the apple and burrows its way toward the core, where it eats and defiles. To its minor credit, the codling moth is not a food safety problem, but an infested apple is not a pretty sight.

Since the codling moth is not native, there is no effective natural control. Native to Central Asia, the apple and the codling moth evolved together. Wormy apples are common in the apple's native land, but it's no big deal. There are plenty to go around. And there are also organisms that prey on the moth and its larva and thus keep it in check. But when the codling moth came to North America with the apple, its parasites stayed behind.

As a result, an untreated orchard can receive 100 percent fruit damage, with multiple "hits" per apple, within two years. The codling moth is the only pest in Washington state that has to feed on the apple fruit.



Removing broad-spectrum pesticides is giving parasites and predators a chance to control other pests, such as leaf rollers, says Alway. But the codling moth is relatively immune to control by other insects, the biological weapon that is one of the key parts of integrated pest management. Enter sex as control.

No one's quite sure how pheromones work on the codling moth. But they generally work in three main ways: "false trail following," whereby the pheromone dispenser acts like a super female; "masking," whereby the pheromone overwhelms the insect's natural trail, so it can't orient at all; and "habituation" or "adaptation," whereby the insect is assaulted by sensory overload, and its neurons don't respond anymore.

The codling moth is probably affected by a couple of these mechanisms. Regardless, it works.

Alway thinks that mating disruption is going to be a key tool of the majority of growers in-state. Not only does it work very well, particularly in conjunction with other controls, but it is, overall, cheaper than chemical pesticides for many orchardists.

It's one of those rare things that both consumers and environmental advocates like, says Alway. No one is worried that insect pheromones are going to affect human health, except for the good. Growers like mating disruption, because it helps produce cleaner food for less cost. Also, spraying pesticides is a major hassle. The protective suits are hot and uncomfortable. Finally, there are direct risks associated with spraying, affecting the safety of applicators and other farm workers, as well as the various pesticides' effects on wildlife and beneficial insects.

Alway believes the tree fruit industry was moving in the direction of mating disruption regardless of his input. "Sure I contributed, but it was going to happen anyway."

What speeded up the conversion, of course, was the impending FQPA. Apples, in spite of their importance in Washington, are considered a "minor crop." That means many of the pesticides used on apples will probably not be reregistered, or approved for continued use.

Twenty to 25 percent of the apple acreage in Washington is currently being treated for mating disruption. The acreage is growing by about 40 percent per year. Apples typically are sprayed four to seven times during a season. With mating disruption, many growers are saving two, three, or more sprays a year.

The epitome of agricultural irony, many of the small family fruit farms, which embody traditional and "sustainable" values, will fall victim to our quest for "safe" food.

This results in potentially big cost savings, a major consideration in the current apple market.

For even though pest control is a big concern among growers, it is dwarfed by concerns over whether they can stay in business. The apple crop is huge. Prices are low. "There's a lot of gloom already this year," says Alway.

There's going to be a lot of consolidation following this year, he says. A lot of tree fruit farmers are small family farmers. When they're faced with pressures such as those imposed by the FQPA, they do not have the resources to adapt as well as larger corporate growers.

The epitome of agricultural irony, many of the small family fruit farms, which embody traditional and "sustainable" values, will fall victim to our quest for "safe" food.

Okanagan wheat farmer, WSU regent, and former state director of agriculture Peter Goldmark echoes Alway's concerns. "The big thing is economic viability right now. To heck with registration of pesticides, we're talking about basic survival. . . . Wheat is worth less than washed gravel right now."

Goldmark points to two other interpretations of food safety, the connection between production practices and environmental and human health—and the effect of these connections on the economic viability of farmers. Not only are minor crop farmers up against the FQPA, wheat farmers and others are facing uncertain futures because of the Clean Air and Clean Water acts. Provisions of these acts call for changes in agricultural practices to curtail water and air contamination.

"Also, safety . . . has been construed to mean a safe supply. . .," says Goldmark. "It's going to require a lot of help from WSU."

That help, he hopes, will come through the continuation of current research and extension efforts, but also through increased support through a food safety initiative being presented to the Legislature.

"The past five years have brought real dramatic changes in terms of global movement of ag commodities and food products," says Goldmark. Although words such as "globalization" are on everyone's lips, "we really haven't come to grips with the full nature of what global agricultural trade and the ramifications of that are on our own economy, communities, and families."



Like many in agriculture, Goldmark believes that the key to food safety and security lies with genetic manipulation. If resistance to leaf roller or disease can be engineered into a plant, that means fewer chemicals needed for their control.

"Bob Allan culminated 60 years of efforts of geneticists around the world, when he introduced a wheat plant that had resistance to foot rot about nine years ago, which greatly reduced the need for fungicide control," says Goldmark.

"That kind of example is where one individual working diligently for a period of time can really transform an industry and work and have a tremendous impact on the environmental side."

Another example is work by winter wheat breeder Steve Jones toward developing a perennial wheat. Not having to reseed and till every year would have an immense effect on soil runoff from steep lands and air pollution from windblown dust off bare fields.

Goldmark argues strongly that Northwest farmers must start focusing more on quality and not sit back on their proven ability to produce quantity. He also argues that agriculture had better start telling its story better.

"Ag has been very combative," he says. But industry has realized the significance of public perception.

"It needs to tell its story more to the public," says Goldmark, "so it can get more support and understanding in terms of what it's already doing and how difficult it is to change production systems in such a short period of time. There has to be give and take on both sides for there to be an equitable solution."

But he is not optimistic about ag and its critics meeting halfway.

He raises the recent confrontation over bluegrass burning. "Everybody in ag paid attention to that."

So what does bluegrass field burning have to do with food safety? Bluegrass seed is an excellent cash crop as a buffer against other low-priced commodities, such as wheat. It also served as an excellent cover crop for erodible soil. In other words, it has helped a lot of farmers stay afloat.

But such a complicated relationship is difficult not only to mediate, but to communicate.

"You can't do it when the crisis arises," says Goldmark. "You have to have laid the framework and established the background, so there's some level of understanding and trust and some level of empathy for one another's needs and positions."