Stemilt Growers earns advanced IPM certification for natural pest controlStemilt Growers earns advanced IPM certification for natural pest control

Stemilt Growers, which for more than six decades has grown, packed and marketed its “world famous fruit,” including fresh apples, pears, cherries, stone fruit and organic tree fruits, has become the first U.S. farming company to secure the Integrated Pest Management (IPM) Addendum of Conformity from Safe Quality Foods (SQF).

Third-party certification was a natural step

“IPM has been part of Stemilt’s sustainability efforts in the orchard environment since 1989, but before now, these practices weren’t certified by a third party,” said Lisa Myers, food safety and compliance manager for the Wenatchee, Washington-based company. “There was customer interest in verifying IPM practices, and an opportunity to do that seamlessly through our existing food safety certification process. We felt it was a natural next step to affirm these long standing IPM practices.”

The IPM certification currently covers more than 120 growers and the company expects to plan to extend the certification to additional partner growers in 2025.

“Now that this addendum is part of Stemilt’s food safety auditing practices, we can communicate it to growers and help them conform it,” Myers said. “We will assist growers with the needed documentation to help streamline the auditing process.”

Related:New Roadmap for Pest Management Offers Familiar Route, Fresh Opportunities for Organic Growers

Stemlit attracts natural predators like this falcon help control pests without chemicals.

Part of the certification development process

Back in 2000, Stemilt also became the first U.S. company with SQF facility certification. Being involved with the upcoming Edition 10 of the SQF code is very important to Stemilt, so it has a voice over the new or changing regulations for food safety. 

“The SQF team relies on their stakeholders to provide feedback and guidance when updating codes, so we are honored to help with that process,” Myers said. “It also gives us some lead time once the changes have been finalized to prepare for the updates.” Still, the IPM certification is more sophisticated, with an additional eight questions on the audit checklist that address IPM practices and how to verify growers have complied with these requirements. 

“Our internal field food safety team reviews this documentation twice per year at all of our orchards, and a select group of orchards are audited by a third party annually,” Myers said. “It’s part of the same process we’ve always had, but goes further into pesticide reduction, applying non-chemical pest intervention steps—such as releasing beneficial insects, using traps, etc.—and having a documented IPM plan.”

Long-held practices now certified

To minimize the use of chemical pesticides, Stemilt employs a range of sustainable practices. These include regular scouting to detect pest issues early on, monitoring pest traps to track population trends and implementing natural pest control methods. One such method is the release of beneficial insects, such as green lacewing and ladybug larvae, which prey on pests. Additionally, Stemilt deploys kestrel houses to attract natural predators, thereby reducing the need for chemical interventions and promoting a balanced ecosystem.

Related:Policymakers optimistic about future of organic agriculture

Robin Graham, general manager of Stemilt ag services, noted these IPM practices have long existed in the orchard. Now they are certified by a third party.

“A big part of managing an orchard is understanding the yield each year and whether that met our expectations despite the pest pressure,” she said. “We also have to measure pest-related damage and compare it against past crops or untreated areas.”

With that in mind, there are multiple actions towards measuring IPM practice effectiveness.

“We collect pre- and post-intervention data which helps us compare the pest population before and after we implement the strategy,” Graham said. “Another part of monitoring pest populations is making sure that they are below established thresholds. We utilize tools like pheromone traps or visual sampling to determine the amount of pest presence.” Additionally, Stemilt closely monitors chemical use in orchards both from quantity and frequency and can see IPM effectiveness when those inputs are reduced.

“We also assess the orchard from an overall biodiversity standpoint, including health and presence of beneficial insects and pollinators,” Graham said.

With this milestone achievement, Stemilt Growers has taken another step towards realizing its vision of a more sustainable and pesticide-free future.