Agrochemicals

Compiled by Sally-Jean Bell and Marcel Essling
Last updated 6 August 2008
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Click here to download a copy of the booklet, Growing grapes for export wine?  Choose the right chemical, or keep reading this page for the latest recommendations.

Governments around the world set limits for the amount of residue of a fungicide, insecticide or herbicide that is legally allowed in a food, such as grapes or wine. These limits for agrochemicals are commonly referred to as MRLs (maximum residue limits), and for Australia they are listed in the Australian New Zealand Food Standards Code.

Over the past year, Australian wineries have exported more than $2.9 billion of wine, mostly to countries which have MRLs vastly different, and sometimes lower than those set by our own government. In fact, some chemicals commonly used by Australian grapegrowers do not have MRLs in some of our major export markets. Often this is because grapes are not grown commercially in these countries and, therefore, there is no need to register products for use on grapes. As a result no MRL is set, which means that the importing country will either not allow any detectable residue of the agrochemical in wine, or only permit 'safe' amounts of it. 

To ensure that wine meets these requirements, it is necessary to restrict the application of certain chemicals or to avoid their use altogether. Since 1991, some wineries have provided their grapegrowers with a list of recommended fungicides and insecticides and the associated 'export harvest interval' (the minimum number of days before the last application and harvest). The export harvest interval is sometimes much longer than the withholding period stated on the chemical label, and it has been calculated to minimize the likelihood of residues affecting fermentation, affecting sales of the wine and to reduce the exposure of the public to pesticides. 

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