12/11/07 AZM Stewardship

AZM Stewardship. I'm Greg Martin with today's Fruit Grower Report. Azinphos Methyl has gotten a reprieve. Better known as AZM or Guthion, it has been about the best pesticide that orchardists have at their use. But the EPA has been ready to pull the plug and that has had many producers up in arms. Now it seems their concerns have been heard. The product will be available for use for a few more years but the EPA says there has to more education on its use and safety measures according to Elliot Gordon. GORDON: The EPA initially just said, hey makes some educational material and distribute it and that's what they had in mind. And we realized pretty soon that that wasn't going to do much. There was educational material out there and we really don't need more of it. Gordon is a consultant for MANA, the company that now owns Guthion. What they found was that there really was some good educational material already out there but that they just needed to get it into the right hands. The AZM Stewardship program has taken on several different fronts. GORDON: The train the trainer program is one of the keys, in other words you need more trained people out there who are managing the workers and as their training increases they can impart that training to the workers. They have also teamed up with the Columbia Basin Health Clinic in Othello. GORDON: They go out and talk to the various people as part of their home visits and they extend it a bit and they talk about safety and Guthion and the AZM Stewardship program. He says they also have organized parties where there is food and music and presentations to let workers know more information about the product. More tomorrow with Elliot Gordon. That's today's Fruit Grower Report. I'm Greg Martin on the Northwest Ag Information Network.