Michael Aerts

FFVA is an agricultural organization whose grower-shipper membership represents the vast majority of vegetable, citrus, tropical fruit, sod and sugar cane production in Florida. As Vice President of Regulatory and Scientific Affairs for FFVA, Michael Aerts advocates member and Association interests for crop protection chemical related issues affecting production and the domestic/international movement of fruits, vegetables, and other agricultural products. Specific to activities relating to involvement with crop protection chemicals, he generates fruit and vegetable Section 18 emergency exemption petitions for Florida, initiates and also provides support for Special Local Need registrations, and works on numerous generic crop protection chemical issues (e.g., pollinator protection, registration reviews and Proposed Interim Decisions, new pesticide product registrations, the Worker Protection Standard, endangered/threatened species, invasive species, etc.).

He is also the Chair for the U.S. Minor Crop Farmer Alliance (MCFA) Technical Committee. An additional responsibility is his serving as President of Third Party Registrations, Inc., an FFVA subsidiary company, which provides compliant labeling of products to enhance production and quality of specialty crops in Florida. Mr. Aerts also serves on a variety of other committees and workgroups dealing with specialty crops, pollinator protection, international trade, soil and commodity fumigation, research/research funding, maximum residue limits and international tolerance harmonization, crop protection chemical use, and crop protection chemical risk assessment.