The document summarizes information about Red Tomato's Eco Apple program, which aims to reduce pesticide use and promote sustainable farming practices. It discusses how Eco Apple standards are set through collaboration between farmers and scientists and are certified by the IPM Institute of North America. While not organic, the Eco Apple program is designed specifically for apple production in the northeast U.S. and uses the least toxic pest management methods. A 2010 follow-up study found consuming local apples during peak season can concentrate pesticide exposure risk, so the Eco Apple program has worked to eliminate the most toxic pesticides like organophosphates and grew the 2010 crop without any organophosphates.

1. Eco Apple at Red Tomato
• Our Eco programs are unique partnerships between farmers, scientists, and
nonprofits, developed and managed by Red Tomato. Eco fruit is grown using
advanced Integrated Pest Management (IPM) methods on a family farms in the
northeastern United States. There are 15 orchards in the Eco Apple network.
• By meeting strict requirements for orchard care and pest monitoring, Eco
farmers aim to reduce the use of high toxicity pesticides, contribute to a bountiful
supply of top quality local foods, and improve farmworker safety, soil and water
resources, wildlife habitat and biodiversity.
• Eco farms are certified and inspected by the IPM Institute of North America.
Thorough tracking and reporting by each orchard plus on-site audits by the IPM
Institute verify that each farmer has followed our rigorous protocols.
• How is Eco AppleTM
fruit different from certified organic? Eco Apple fruit is
not the same as organic, although growers use many of the same methods.
Certified organic producers are regulated by strict USDA standards that apply to
all producers nationwide. Organic apples are very tough to raise in commercial
quantity and quality in the northeastern US, due to pests specific to this climate.
Some organic-approved pesticides must be applied in large quantity to be
effective here, and can have negative ecological impacts at those levels. The Eco
Apple protocol is specifically designed for apple production in the northeastern
US, using the least toxic methods to produce healthy fruit and healthy orchards.
• How are Eco AppleTM
standards set? An annual review of the protocol is
conducted by growers and scientists from Cornell University and the University
of Massachusetts. Our goal is to constantly push toward least-toxic, most
ecological practices.
• What criteria are used to determine pesticide protocols for Eco ApplesTM
?
Pesticide options are evaluated for potential to contaminate groundwater, pest
resistance, and for hazards to humans, natural enemies and other non-targets. All
pest control methods are used only after systematic scouting and weather
monitoring, and only when pests exceed science-based thresholds.

2. 2010 Eco Apple Program and Pest Management
• More than 1,200 pesticides are allowed for use on apples, including both synthetic
and organic substances.
• Organophosphates in particular, a class of pesticides allowed in conventional
production, are suspected to cause developmental and neurological effects in young
children.
• In a 2002 study, done by researchers at the University of Washington, children
consuming conventional fruits and vegetables had 8.5 times the levels of
organophosphate residues in their urine than those children who consumed an organic
diet including fruit grown without organophosphates.
• A 2010 follow-up study, by the same team, demonstrated that children are at risk
from seasonal and regional spikes in pesticide exposures. For example, consuming
one apple, a fruit most likely to retain organophosphate residues, may not expose a
child to unsafe amounts. However, consuming 7-10 apples a week, as one might do
during the local apple season, concentrates the exposure risk dramatically.
• Eco Apple producers have worked steadily since the start of the program to eliminate
the use of the most toxic materials, including organophosphates (OPs). The Eco
Apple protocol prohibits all use of OPs on the fruit itself.
• Since 2008, only one specific OP, chlorpyrifos, is allowed in restricted use for a
specific pest, early in the year, to tree trunks only, and only as a last resort.
• 2010 weather conditions have enabled Eco Apple producers to raise a spectacular
crop without the use of chlorpyrifos on a single tree.
• The 2010 Eco Apple crop is grown 100%without organophosphates.
For more information on our Eco Apple production protocols, see our website:
www.redtomato.org/ecoapple.php, or contact Red Tomato Director of Marketing, Susan
Futrell, sfutrell@redtomato.org