You may have heard about the Section 18 I sent to VDACS last Dec. on Avipel; a humane bird repellant product for corn. This announcement will bring you up-to-date on where this Section 18 currently stands. If approved by EPA, Avipel will NOT be registered as a restricted use product. It can be used on field corn as well as sweet corn, and the graphite and liquid slurry formulations are grower applied.

The Section 18 document was sent off to VDACS in Dec. 2010. After all the separate committees gave their approval, it passed through VDACS, and is in EPA’s hands. The bird injury data and detailed data of crop loss and costs associated with replanting from one grower were very useful. In addition, Scott Reiter requested 2010 bird damage numbers from all ANR agents, which also proved useful. This data along with the grower’s data helped me build a case for the Section 18.

Micah Raub at VDACS, with whom I was working closely, sent an earlier draft to EPA. According to Micah, there were only a few minor items that needed tightening up, which we were able to resolve over a phone conversation. EPA knows the time-sensitive nature of this request and hopefully, VDACS and I will hear something before the end of February. Mr. Ken Ballinger (Arkion LLC company rep. for Avipel, and my contact: 610-506-3117), says as soon as they hear positive news from EPA they are poised to get labelled stocks of Avipel to distributors in time for spring planting – at least that is the hope. Distributors are encouraged to take orders for Avipel; however, Arkion will not ship product until EPA okays the use of this product.

As always, do not hesitate to contact me should have questions.

Rod
—
R. R. Youngman
Professor and Extension Specialist

Department of Entomology
Virginia Tech
216A Price Hall, MC 0319
Blacksburg, VA 24061

email: youngman@vt.edu
cell: 540-357-2558
Office: 540-231-9118
FAX: 540-231-9131