lated to all voting members of subcommittee
E35.30 by fax or electronically on ASTM’s
website at http://www.astm.org. Votes are recorded
as affirmative, negative or abstaining.
Generally, abstaining votes are from subcom-
mittee members unfamiliar with the product
being tested. A single negative vote will stop
the process, although negative votes must be
accompanied by a written explanation or
they will be discounted. When a standard
has had a negative vote, there are several
options. The standard may be withdrawn,
the standard may be revised and resubmit-
ted or the negative vote can be addressed
and the standard resubmitted as is.
Membership accepts or rejects standardIf a standard is accepted, it is published by
ASTM. If the standard is rejected, it is
either withdrawn or revised and resubmit-
ted for ballot.
PublicationOnce accepted, the new standard is published
in the Annual Book of ASTM Standards. An
ASTM standard is subject to revision at any
time by the responsible technical committee
and must be reviewed every 5 years and, if
not revised, either reapproved or withdrawn.
In addition to the Annual Book of ASTM
Standards, the ASTM organization offers a
variety of publishing options. For example,
the biocontrol community could request that
standards be published as a compilation or
handbook to be used as a reference by pro-
ducers, distributors and end-users of biologi-
cal control organisms. Each ASTM standard is
available as a separate copy from ASTM.
General and purchasing information is avail-
able on ASTM’s website at http://www.astm.org.
Quality Control by the British Columbia
Greenhouse Vegetable Industry: a
Customer Approach
The greenhouse vegetable industry in British
Columbia, Canada, is a young but rapidly
growing sector of agriculture. The industry
exceeded 500 acres in the year 2000 and is
valued at over $200 million. Its produce label
is recognized internationally for its quality
and commitment to the biological control of
arthropod pests. The reliance on biological
control programmes has its foundation in
customers’ demands for reduced pesticide
products and government policies on pesti-
cide registration and produce exportation. It
reflects, however, largely on BC growers’ ini-
tiative, organizational abilities and compli-
ance in the adoption of new ideas. This part
of the chapter describes the process that led
the BC growers to become skilful and com-
mitted users of biological control pro-
grammes and involved participants in the
process of quality assurance for biological
control agents.
The majority of BC greenhouse vegetable
operators are members of BCHHGA and their
produce is graded and marketed through BC
Hot House Foods Inc. (BCHHF). BCHHGA
represents the industry on regulatory issues
and manages the BC Greenhouse Vegetable
Industry Development Trust Fund (the Trust).
The Trust was established in 1990 in partner-
ship with the BC government, with the gov-
ernment and individual operators
contributing to the fund. Its goal was to sup-
port research addressing the most relevant
needs of the industry and to provide a struc-
ture for the process of identifying, addressing
and implementing research results. The Trust
has been managed by the Greenhouse
Vegetable Research Council (BCGVRC), which
includes administrators, technical advisers
and growers. Each year approximately 25 pro-
jects are funded by the Trust. In the past 10
years approximately $4.6 million were spent
on research, 60% of which were allocated to
projects addressing disease and insect- and
mite-pest problems. Development or expan-
sion of biological control programmes for
insect and mite pests on greenhouse vegeta-
bles absorbed the majority of the 60% expendi-
ture. The ongoing process of identifying pest
problems and implementing biological control
solutions gradually improved growers’ skills
and made them committed users of the bio-
logical control programmes. Over the years, it
significantly reduced reliance on pesticides for
the control of insect and mite pests.Development of Quality Control in North America 211