Education For Environmental Responsibility

About CURES

The Coalition For Urban/Rural Environmental Stewardship (CURES) was formed in 1997 with seed money from the Western Plant Health Association (formerly Western Crop Protection Association), to support educational efforts for agricultural and urban communities focusing on the proper and judicious use of pest control products. Central to this goal is developing and implementing projects that advance stewardship practices when storing handling or applying these products. CURES is a non-profit organization that is making significant headway toward reaching this goal.

CURES operates by forming coalitions with concerned groups representing stewardship interests of agricultural, environmental, crop protection and water associations, government agencies, academia and public interest groups to work on solutions to pesticide related problems. An independent Board of Directors chaired by Len Richardson, editor of California Farmer magazine, sets priorities for the group.

Getting the word out about the proper use of pesticides is the aim of CURES in all of its projects. Some of the current and recent projects include:

• Watershed Coalitions: Watershed Coalitions are being formed in California in response to the Conditional Waiver of Waste Discharge Requirements passed on July 11, 2003 by the Central Valley Regional Water Quality Control Board. CURES is working with these coalitions to comply with State requirements to submit watershed use reports describing detailed cropping patterns, pesticides and nutrient use and management practices that can protect water quality from farm inputs. CURES is also assisting the Coalition groups in developing implementation plans should monitoring indicate water quality problems.
• BMP Research Projects: CURES has several projects supported through CALFED grants where a variety of BMPs are studied to determine effectiveness and cost of installation on commercial farming operations. The projects also support development of BMP publications and outreach presentations. These projects are located in both the Sacramento and San Joaquin Valleys.
• Diazinon Task Force: A 4 page Best Management Practices (BMPs) booklet for dormant orchard use of diazinon is being distributed by CURES throughout Central California through Agricultural Commissioner's offices and farm input suppliers.
• Water Steward Program: The Water Steward program is designed to promote awareness of the pesticide runoff problem from dormant orchard sprays. CURES Executive Director Parry Klassen has made presentations about the program at grower and crop consultant meetings throughout the Sacramento Valley. More than 1500 orchard growers in the Sacramento Valley have received booklets outlining pest control and orchard management practices for protecting surface water from dormant orchard spray runoff. The program is part of a project being funded through a grant received from the CALFED Watershed Program, "Promotion of Farming Best Management Practices to Mitigate OP Pesticide Runoff into the Sacramento River Watershed". This grant includes distributing publications on dormant orchard spray BMPs along with presentations to grower and PCA audiences.
• Sulfur Best Application Practices Booklet: The Sulfur Task Force, made up of the manufacturers, distributors and users of sulfur in California, retained CURES to create a dusting sulfur stewardship program in California. Dusting sulfur is widely used in the state on grapes and row crops. Increasing complaints about sulfur drift in the late 1990s prompted the CA Department of Pesticide Regulation in November 1999 to ask sulfur registrants to modify sulfur labels to address drift and implement a statewide grower stewardship program. More than 20,000 copies have been and are continuing to be distributed to grower groups and farm input suppliers in California.
• Farmworker Training Manual: More than 105,000 copies of "Proteccion de su Salud: Proteccion de Trabajadores Expuestos a Pesticidas", a farmworker training manual have been distributed by CURES and the Western Plant Health Association to workers through Western Farm Press newspaper and government, rural health, and farm worker organizations in the West.
• Rice Pesticide Stewardship Practices Booklet: Syngenta Crop Protection, Inc. and the California Rice Commission funded CURES to develop a booklet promoting application stewardship practices for rice growers.
• Urban Water Quality Presentations: Over 2700 commercial pesticide applicators in California heard the CURES presentation on protecting water quality at seven PAPA (Pesticide Applicator Professional Association) training meetings through funding from RISE (Responsible Industry for a Sound Environment).

CURES specializes in educational efforts to promote environmental responsibility through the use of PowerPoint presentations, seminars and booklets to industry, government and educational groups. For more information contact Parry Klassen at (559) 288-8125 or parry@curesworks.org