Pesticide Outreach & Education
Pesticide Outreach & Education. I’m Greg Martin with today’s Line On Agriculture.
An educated pesticide user is a safe pesticide user. That's why the Oregon Department of Agriculture is providing classroom instruction this winter to thousands of licensed pesticide applicators around the state. Under a new emphasis on outreach and education, investigators and other staff from ODA's Pesticides Division are racking up the miles and logging a lot of minutes playing the role of teacher, according to administrator Chris Kirby.
KIRBY: I'd much rather educate people so we don't have violations than have to spend resources on people who have violated the law. Sometimes, violations of law may be a mistake, a misunderstanding. That hopefully can be alleviated if they are better educated.
ODA still enforces the state's pesticide law and will continue investigating cases of misuse, sometimes issuing civil penalties when warranted. But supervisor Janet Fults and others are spending more time giving educational presentations to as many of the state's 12-thousand or so licensed pesticide applicators as possible.
FULTS: On average, we're probably doing statewide at least five presentations a week since October. We've really been ramping up the educational efforts across the entire state and not just focusing on the
Fults says it's surprising how many licensed pesticide applicators have forgotten some of the basics. Pesticide regulations and product labels have become increasingly complex. In order to get re-certified, individuals ranging from exterminators and lawn control specialists to farmers and foresters, are encouraged to spend time in the classroom, pick up necessary educational credits, and get up to speed on how to safely use pesticides. Fults says the educational outreach by ODA is a good idea, especially since it has apparently been hard for licensed pesticide applicators to keep up on the complexities of pesticide use.
FULTS: We've been very surprised at how the basic information has been forgotten. A lot of these applicators may not have taken an exam for 10, 15, 20, or 25 years.
Kirby says ODA continues to investigate pesticide misuse and will take regulatory action when needed. But there's an emphasis right now on outreach and education.
That’s today’s Line On Agriculture. I’m Greg Martin on the Northwest Ag Information Network.
