12/07/06 Columbia Plateau PM10 Conference

Farm and Ranch December 6, 2006 Reports on research to reduce wind erosion and improve air quality in the Inland Pacific Northwest will be presented at the Northwest Columbia Plateau PM-10 Project Conference December 14-15 at the Mirabeau Park Hotel, Spokane Valley. The Columbia Plateau PM-10 Project addresses problems of windblown dust in the Inland Pacific Northwest, particularly particles 10 microns in size and smaller that can lodge in lungs and lead to health problems. Bill Schillinger, Washington State University agronomist, says researchers from USDA, WSU and OSU will be reporting. Schillinger: "As well as several farmers who will be talking about methods they are using on their farm to farm better with less dust." EPA's new air quality standards are also on the agenda. Schillinger: "That has been a big thing this past year what the EPA was going to do with both the coarse standard and what they call the fine standard, the particulates less than 2.5 microns in diameter. Yeah, we will have updates from several people on these new standards and how they affect agriculture in particular." There will also be a presentation on the PNW under cutter project. Registration begins at 8:30 a.m. Thursday, December 14. A two-day $75 registration fee covers the cost of the meeting, one lunch, a dinner banquet and coffee breaks. Thursday only attendance costs $65 and Friday half-day attendance is $15. For more information or to register, contact Cindy Warriner at (509) 659-3215 or warriner@wsu.edu, or the Web site at http://www.pnw-winderosion.wsu.edu/news.html . I'm Bob Hoff and that's the Northwest Farm and Ranch Report on the Northwest Ag Information Network.