Methyl Bromide on its Way Out
Supplies Will Become Critically Tight, Perhaps Sooner than Growers Think

By Marni Katz
Special to California Almond News

Almond growers are working on borrowed time when it comes to fumigating new orchards and should be prepared perhaps within two years to live without Methyl Bromide as a pre-plant soil treatment.

Methyl bromide has been on the chopping block under the international Montreal Protocol since 1996. Because the process has dragged in and out of the news for nearly 10 years, growers may have developed “methyl bromide fatigue” when it comes to worrying about the loss of this important fumigant, says Gabriele Ludwig, the Almond Board’s senior manager for technical and regulatory affairs.

However, she says, growers need to take notice and realize there is only a limited amount of time Methyl Bromide will be available for both pre-plant and post-harvest treatment.

“Technically we’ve been in the complete phase-out period for over a year according to the Montreal Protocol,” Ludwig says. “The U.S. was to phase out all uses as of 2005 except for two categories of uses: one for export quarantine use and one for Critical Use Exemptions.”

Between 2003 and 2005, manufacturers were allowed to produce 30 % of the 1991 production levels of methyl bromide. Since 2005, those three manufacturers are now limited only to production levels that would satisfy Critical Use Exemptions granted annually by the parties to the Montreal Protocol grants for crop, nursery stock and certain post-harvest fumigation uses where there are no reasonable alternatives.

That means that as of 2005, growers are now getting methyl bromide from one of two sources: Either from stockpiles distributors have had on hand prior to the 2005 phase-out; or under the annual Critical Use Exemption that strictly restricts the number of pounds that can be used for California almonds.

Until now, Ludwig says growers may not have felt the pinch on methyl bromide because there have been enough stockpiles to keep supply ample and prices in check. While Ludwig says the industry does not have a firm figure on what stockpiles remain, it is conceivable the amount of methyl bromide in storage could only last another couple years, meaning supplies will become so limited that prices will likely skyrocket or it will be too hard to get.

That scenario leaves only the Critical Use Exemption as the remaining source of methyl bromide. Since the first exemption was granted in 2004, EPA has allocated 30 percent of the total pounds once used in almonds.

These annual Critical Use Exemptions are applied for three years in advance of the target crop year, and the Almond Hullers and Processors Association is filed an application last September for the 2008 year.

Ludwig says the amount granted under the last three annual CUEs has declined every year, and there is intense international pressure on the U.S. government to reduce the amount available to almond growers and other users under the CUE for 2008 and beyond.

Using Methyl Bromide under the CUE also comes with financial risk to the producer. Growers must certify to the manufacturer or supplier that the use meets the criteria of the Critical Use Exemption. For 2006, EPA has defined the critical conditions for almonds as follows:

* Moderate to severe nematode;
* Replanted (non-virgin) orchard soils to prevent orchard replant diseases;
* Medium to heavy soils;
* A prohibition on the use of 1,3-dichloropropene (Telone) because local township limits have been reached;
* The need for methyl bromide for research purposes.

“However, the total quantity of methyl bromide made available to almond growers in the 2006 CUE is very limited. Only 527.6 metric tons (1,160,720 lbs) for orchard replant, which includes the stone fruit, walnuts, almonds and grapes, was granted. So if growers broadcast, say, at a rate of 330 pounds per acre, that essentially would mean only about 3,500 acres could be treated in the entire orchard industry,” she adds. “And it’s basically first-come/first-served when it comes to who gets to use the available methyl bromide under the CUE.”

With the industry planting new orchards at a rate of 20,000 to 30,000 acres a year, theoretically only 1 to 2 percent of new orchards could currently be treated with methyl bromide under those use rates.

“Growers also need to realize that there is a big risk for using this product under the CUE,” Ludwig says. “They absolutely must meet the terms of the Critical Use Exemption or else they could be pretty heavily fined.”

Short supplies and big risk: This combination is propelling the industry to find alternatives to methyl bromide and in the short term stretch the limited supplies that are left.

The Almond Board of California and growers continue to research ways to improve the efficient use of methyl bromide by reducing the pounds needed to treat each acre of new orchard.

“The Almond Board has been trying to find ways to use methyl bromide at lower rates, treating in strips, treating individual holes or planting areas or using higher ratios of chloropicrin mixed with the methyl bromide,” Ludwig says.


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