FSES Advisory Council & Friends
~FSES Director
“Magnitude of Residue Studies for Dimethenamid-P
on Winter Processing Squash”
Squash growers struggle to keep weeds from reducing squash yields and producing seeds that increase weed control costs in future crops. Summer annuals such as pigweed, lambsquarter, and nightshade can reduce squash yields by as much as 75%. Project Goal: Provide residue data for IR-4 and EPA to establish a tolerance and a regional label for dimethenamid-p in winter processing squash.
We have developed a dimethenamid-p method, and are currently validating the method per US EPA guidelines. The field trial samples from OSU’s North Willamette research and extension station and Mt. Vernon, Washington will be arriving any day. One of the study audits, the in-phase audit, will be November 8th. We hope to avoid a storage stability study, and anticipate the project will be completed winter of 2003. The storage stability study would add an additional month to the project timeline. The project was funded in-part by the Oregon Minor Crop Association and Autumn Seed Co. of Oregon. The data will be submitted to EPA through IR-4. Special thanks goes to Ed Peachey and Bob McReynolds for hand-holding this project through occasional bumpy terrain. Participants include: Oregon Minor Crop Association Com., Growers (Autumn Seed Co.), FSES Program, IR-4, EPA, BASF, ODA, OSU, and ARF.
Bioavailable Contaminants- Willamette River,
Newberg field sampling was underway spring/summer/fall 2002
The Newberg area on the Willamette river has shown, for over a decade, a high prevalence of skeletal deformities in fish. The FSES program is part of a larger team of OSU investigators examining this problem. We are focusing on water physical and chemical conditions. We were fortunate, to get into the field in 2002 for integrated sampling in time for spawning and early fish development. For some chemical analytes we collected data every hour for 3 months (thank goodness for technology). We are now in the process of analyzing all the samples and data.
Pictured below is Jennifer Schaeffer and Gene Johnson, pulling up about 80 lbs of sampling gear, here we are sampling bioavailable organic contaminants and heavy metals in the Willamette river.
New FSES faculty research assistant, Jennifer Schaeffer, learning to “pull her own weight” during field sampling in the Portland Harbor
Jen, BS Chemistry, most recently worked as a Quality Assurance Auditor for Argus Research a division of Charles River Laboratories, PA. She is learning about Oregon agriculture very quickly, (FYI: a close friend of hers works in the Oregon nursery business).
