HERMISTON, Ore. (AP) Pressured by processors to grow perfect potatoes for supermarkets and fast-food restaurants, Oregon farmers apply more chemicals per acre than potato farmers in the six other major potato-growing states, according to a federal survey.
Since 1991, potato farmers have more than doubled their use of pesticides to an average of 164 pounds an acre in 1997, mostly because of the increasing use of fumigants and fungicides, the survey found.
Farmers inject fumigants into the ground, flush weed killers through giant rotating sprinkler systems and hire pilots to spray fungicides and insecticides.
The heavy use of chemicals has helped produce some of the world's biggest per-acre potato yields.
But federal agencies, concerned about health risks, are prodding farmers to reduce their pesticide use.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is conducting a sweeping review of pesticide compounds by examining the hazards they may pose to consumers, workers and the environment.
So far, most of those chemicals don't show up even in trace amounts on the spuds that reach consumers.
Potato farmers like many fruit and vegetable growers use two classes of chemicals that act as neurotoxins. These carbamates and organophosphates kill by attacking a bug's nervous system.
The EPA review, required by the 1996 Food Quality Protection Act, will try to gauge the cumulative risks both on and off the farm posed by the widespread use of these chemicals. The review could lead to restrictions on certain crops.
The review has spurred research into alternative pest-control methods. But the economics of potato farming and the stubborn nature of the pests slow the pace of change, and many farmers are wary.
''If you lose those products, you could be in real trouble,'' said Gary Reed, an entomologist who heads the Oregon State University experiment station near Hermiston.
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