Western Region Pesticide Risk Reduction through Professional Development for Western State IPM Programs

View the project final report

Commodities

Practices

• Crop Production: pollinator health
• Education and Training: decision support system, extension, networking, workshop
• Pest Management: biorational pesticides, botanical pesticides, chemical control, integrated pest management
• Sustainable Communities: sustainability measures

Co-PIs Paul Jepson (IPPC, OSU) and Katie Murray (IPPC, OSU) - this program is jointly led

We will significantly reduce pesticide risks in Western US agricultural production through capacity development with State IPM extension programs on pesticide risk assessment and risk education principles and processes. Collaborators include state IPM coordinators and other extension faculty from 12 Western region states: Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming. This project seeks to grow a collaboration with these programs that was conceptualized at the July 2016 Western State IPM Coordinators annual meeting (WERA-1017), with an aim of implementing action on pesticide risk reduction. Specifically, this project provides capacity development on pesticide risk assessment and education through the implementation of two workshops, ongoing monthly discussion topics, the refinement and sharing of a new, internationally peer-reviewed pesticide risk classification process, and the development of a centralized website for key resources and tools. To assess project outcomes, an evaluation process will measure the skills and capacities developed among the participating collaborators, as well as the uptake of new tools and education by each program’s participating stakeholders. Increasing the competency of Western state IPM programs to effectively assess and reduce pesticide risks will have broad and deep impact across the region, and this work will lead to a transferrable model of pesticide risk education for agricultural professionals in other regions and locations. Project collaborators will co-author a publication on this approach and its impacts. The project impacts will be shared widely based on our close affiliation with various regional, national, and international IPM groups.

1. Conduct two annual pesticide risk education workshops for Western Region IPM Coordinators and other extension faculty, focused on pesticide risk education and impact evaluation, to coincide with the 2017 and 2018 annual meetings of Western Region IPM Program Coordinators (WERA-1017).

The project will begin and end with an in-person workshop for Western state IPM program staff, designed to increase capacity in pesticide risk assessment and education, and impact evaluation, in order to achieve measurable pesticide risk reduction. Each state IPM program will learn about, design, and evaluate risk education programming, targeted to the specific needs of their respective audiences.

2. Provide IPM Practitioners access to and education on a new pesticide risk classification tool to aid in risk-based decision-making and achieve increased use of reduced-risk products and risk mitigation practices, and diminished use of highly hazardous pesticides in the US Western region.

By providing Western Region IPM coordinators and extension faculty access to and education on a state-of-the-science, risk classification system, we will achieve significant reduction in the use of highly hazardous pesticides in the West, and increase the use of reduced-risk products, and risk mitigation for other products. Alignment with this classification system will also bring Western US farmers more in line with internationally recognized and reviewed agricultural sustainability standards with respect to pesticide risk management, which will increase their access to certification and marketing opportunities.

3. Design a 12-month pesticide risk education curriculum for IPM practitioners to be implemented through monthly conference calls.

Using a curriculum targeted at capacity development in pesticide risk assessment and education to continue an established routine of monthly calls with the project collaborators, we will strengthen the capacity of all Western region statewide IPM programs on the concepts, principles, and delivery of pesticide risk assessment, communication, and education. This will directly translate to documentable pesticide risk reduction among the participating farmers served by these programs.

4. Develop a centralized, publically accessible website focused on pesticide risk assessment, education, and mitigation.

By hosting a centralized, publically-accessible website with tools and information on pesticide risk assessment and education that could be used by extension educators, consultants, and farmers, we will make pesticide risk education and reduction tools accessible to a wide and far-reaching audience. The risk classification tool described in Goal 2 will become an internationally accessible tool for pesticide risk mitigation and reduction.