Fumigant 'Midas' wins conditional approval

By JESSICA KLIPA

A soil fumigant used to fight weeds, pests, and soil-borne disease in crop production was recently approved for commercial use in Florida. Florida is the 45th state to register the fumigant known as methyl iodide, or Midas.

Introduced as a replacement for methyl bromide, which was found to deplete the ozone layer, Midas is manufactured by Arysta LifeScience North America Corp. and was approved on a conditional basis by U.S. the Environmental Protection Agency in 2007.

In October, the company hopes to obtain full registration from the EPA, said Marty Wiglesworth, development manager for Arysta.

Applied with the same equipment as methyl bromide, Midas is a comparable fumigant that doesn't deplete the ozone layer, he said.

Like methyl bromide, Midas is a "broad spectrum" fumigant that fights an array of weeds, pests and diseases that threaten plant production.

"It's as a good as methyl bromide," Wiglesworth said. "In certain situations, you're going to see an increased performance out of it."

Local growers used the product on an experimental basis before it became approved in Florida, and some will continue to use it on their farms.

"It's the closest thing to methyl bromide that's out there," said Scott DiMare, of DiMare Farms. "It lends itself better to what were doing without sacrificing the effectiveness of the product."

While DiMare believes the product is effective, he believes that with the rising cost of fuel and fertilizer, growers are also feeling the squeeze with fumigants.

Methyl bromide, which rose to about $4 a pound due to inflation and decrease in production as it is being phased out, had already become too costly for growers, who spend about $750 an acre on it.

At $10 a pound, Midas is difficult to afford.

While the company argues that growers can use less of the product to produce the same result, Jim Gilreath, former University of Florida researcher and consultant hired by Arysta LifeScience to collect data in Manatee County on Midas, says that the product is not as forgiving as methyl bromide. The effectiveness of the product can vary acre to acre and season to season, depending on how it is applied.

"Methyl bromide is extremely consistent. As a grower you know what to expect from it. There's no surprises," he said.

Growers also have the option of using Telone C35, K-Pam or chloropicrin to do the job.

With the wavering consumer confidence in tomatoes due to the salmonella outbreak, growers are facing low demand for tomatoes, which increases costs and risk.

Safety is another concern for farmworker advocates who disagree with the use of a "highly toxic" product they say can cause thyroid cancer, permanent neurological damage and birth defects in workers. Other concerns include a threat to air and water quality, according to 55 scientists who have appealed to the EPA to prevent registering Midas for use.

Farmworker Justice, based in based Washington, D.C., calls for a ban on pesticides and use of other growing methods such as organics, said Deputy Director Shelley Davis.

Terence McElroy, spokesman for the Florida Department of Agriculture, said that the state has granted a conditional registration for Midas with requirements to monitor air and water quality. Additional conditions have also been established to allow for Florida's unique groundwater, heat and humidity.