IPM's Trac© Software helps over 400 fruit farmers in NY preserve and expand market access. Trac creates required crop spray records. Embedded with crucial EPA pesticide label information, Trac instantly prepares the EPA Worker Protection form with safe-to-enter dates and times, promoting the safety of informed field workers.

Fruit farmers face increasing need to produce crop protection and production records on demand. Pesticide records are required by the EPA Worker Protection Standard, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC), processors, marketers, etc. Each has a different reporting form, required either by law or to market the crop. Farmers must fill out several different forms when marketing their crop, making accurate record-keeping an unnecessarily burdensome task. In increasingly competitive global markets, farmers with the ability to produce detailed crop production records, including pesticide spray records, will have a competitive edge. As more consumers actively seek products with eco-labels, those grown without pesticides, those produced in an environmentally sound manner, or those produced under sustainable practices, the onus will be on the farmer, processor, and marketer to show auditors that such practices were indeed used. Furthermore, accurate crop protection and production records are critically important to the farmer, particularly when pest or disease control failures or severe outbreaks occur. Computerized records allow farmers to easily review pest management practices in light of such pest control failures or severe pest pressure. TracApple and TracGrape software successfully address these issues and farmers requested development of Trac Software for all other fruit crops grown in NY.

Trac Software generates the various pesticide spray record forms required by processors, buyers, and brokers, to aid in record-keeping and market access requirements. Farmers enter spray data once and Trac Software automatically fills out the report forms of all the major fruit processors and buyers in the Northeast. Trac software has drop-down lists for pesticides and pests, saving time and preventing typographical errors. The software also generates drop-down lists specific to the user's farm business. Funding was secured to support development of Trac Software for additional fruit crops and to improve TracApple© and TracGrape© for 2005. Trac Software v2005 upgrades (copyright Cornell University) were released on CD with the software license agreement. Canandaigua Wine collaborated in distributing 125 copies of TracGrape to grape farmers. The v2005 software contains up-to-date pesticide information that automatically populates records and report forms. When a pesticide trade name is selected from the drop down list the program automatically fills in the EPA registration number, restricted entry interval, pre-harvest interval, and calculates the earliest harvest date. Trac also prepares the EPA Worker Protection Standard form with safe-to-enter dates and times, promoting the safety of informed field workers. TracPear, TracBerry, TracStoneFruit, and TracCherry v2005 software were released in 2005, covering all major fruit crops grown in New York.

Trac Software effectively streamlines record-keeping and reporting for fruit farmers. In 2005, 100 copies of TracApple (includes TracPear on the CD), 300 copies of TracGrape, 10 copies of TracStoneFruit (includes TracCherry on the CD) and 10 copies of TracBerry were distributed to interested farmers in New York and in 22 other states. Apple growers using TracApple were able to generate their yearly pesticide records within 24 hours of the onerous Eurepgap certification audits and sail through this portion of the audit. One grape juice processor reported saving up to 25 percent in the time it takes them to process their grape growers' records when those records are generated with TracGrape. Growers using the software find it easy to use and to review their crop production and protection data in Trac. Farmers can quickly print and post the EPA Worker Protection form to alert their farm workers about sprays on their orchards, vineyards and fields. Trac software provides a simple answer to bringing more farmers into the computer age and digitizing New York's agricultural industry. Growers able to easily review computerized records can compare practices from year to year, track costs and harvests, better manage their farm businesses, make more informed IPM decisions, and ultimately create a solid foundation for farm sustainability. A survey of Trac Software users will be conducted in 2006 to ascertain the impact of Trac Software on fruit farm businesses in New York.

• Private/Other (e.g., unrestricted funds, commodity groups, foundations, companies)
• Other USDA (e.g., Water Quality, Special Grants, NRI)

Judith A. Nedrow