It was recognized that the use of plastic mulch in conjunction with methyl bromide is the

 primary production system employed by Florida farmers who produce tomatoes, peppers,

 eggplant, and strawberries destined for the winter market in the United States. Cucumber,

 squash, and watermelon may be produced as second crops which utilize the same plastic mulch.

 It was also determined that methyl bromide provides effective control for nematodes, weeds, and

 soilborne pests. It may also be applied with chloropicrin, which is an effective fungicide.

 Alternative fumigants to methyl bromide include Vorlex, Vapam, and Telone. Each of these

 alternative fumigants have disadvantages relative to methyl bromide which explains, in part, why

 the use of methyl bromide dominates in the Florida fresh winter produce industry. A main

 result from this component of the study is that production systems based upon plastic mulch will

 survive in the absence of methyl bromide. Non-chemical alternatives such as steam or

 solarization are experimental at this time. The use of crop rotations offers one plausible

 alternative but is impractical in the east coast production area because of high land costs.

 The use of methyl bromide as a post harvest fumigant was also analyzed. Fresh citrus

is the major crop on which post harvest fumigation is widely practiced. This is done to control

the possible presence of fruit flies in fresh fruit to be shipped to other citrus producing states.

Currently, all fresh citrus destined for the export market is not fumigated. No viable alternatives

could be identified for use in post harvest fumigation.

 To conduct economic analyses of the impact of a ban of methyl bromide, two

mathematical models were developed. The first models the North American winter fresh

vegetable market. The second is a modification of an existing model of the world market for

Florida grapefruit.