Final Report for FNE01-386

Note to readers, attached is the complete final report for FNE01-386.

The goal of this project was to educate Hmong on safe pesticide use and to monitor the progress that this new knowledge has promoted.
At the end of 2003 season, the result was significant decrease in the use of pesticides; furthermore all but one of the pesticides used was organic. Our goal to encourage farmers to understand the importance of safe pesticides use was better than expected. Farmers were eager to grasp the new concepts and were very pleased with the crops they produced, due to their new efforts. Our continuous goal throughout this project, was to introduce these new procedures in a way that would blend with their already traditional methods. We feel that the person whom we chose to be the mediator and translator of farming which were different than they had been accustomed. With this in mind, I hired Sheng Lor who is a student at Fitchburg State College and also a member of the Hmoung community. She attended several pesticide trainings with Ruth Hazzard to increase her knowledge of information that she would be using. Her job was to translate, frequently scout for pests and assist farmers with any problems those pests could incur. The focus and intent of this effort was not to emphasize organic but to increase general awareness of different pest control techniques, which included the use of organic pesticides. We accomplished what we set out to do.

• FNE01-386 Final Report