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The Potential Impact of Ice-Minus Bacteria as a Frost Protectant in New York Tree Fruit Production

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 May 2017

John Love  and
William Lesser
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Abstract

Ice-nucleating bacteria, which are known to occur naturally on many crops and have been associated with frost damage, may be subject to control with genetically engineered bacteria, dubbed “ice-minus” bacteria. Ice-minus technology is designed to depress the critical temperature at which frost damage begins by displacing the natural population of ice-nucleating organisms. A trial product has been tested in the field with strawberries. Although tests with bacteriacidal compounds have suggested other mechanisms for controlling the critical temperature in deciduous fruit crops, ice-minus may prove to be effective. This analysis examines the possibility of ice-minus being adopted by New York tree-fruit growers and the likelihood of it causing a major economic impact on the state's fruit industry. Based on the climatology, phenology of fruit trees, and the record of actual frost damage in New York, the need for ice-minus is apparently not great enough to conclude that its adoption would cause a significant impact on New York fruit production.

Type
Research Article
Information
Northeastern Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics , Volume 18 , Issue 1 , April 1989 , pp. 26 - 34
Copyright
Copyright © 1989 Northeastern Agricultural and Resource Economics Association 

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Footnotes

Funds for this research were provided by the Niagara Mohawk Power Corporation under a contract with the Cornell University Departments of Agricultural Economics and Agricultural Engineering for studying the future of the New York agricultural sector and implications for electrical energy use. Any opinions or conclusions drawn are entirely the responsibility of the authors.

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