Orchard Practices for Protecting Surface Water
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Education For
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CURES Update - May 2000
The Sacramento River Watershed Program, OP Focus Group
The Sacramento River Watershed Program, OP Focus Group has retained CURES to organize a grower outreach program on protecting water quality in the Sacramento Valley. The effort involves the Central Valley Regional Water Quality Control Board (a department of Cal-EPA) and stakeholder groups including the CA. Department of Pesticide Regulation, University of CA., Western Crop Protection Association and numerous agriculture groups. We will work with the OP Focus Group to modify an existing CURES presentation on pesticide runoff into surface water and best management practices, then give up to 20 presentations at grower meetings in the region next winter and spring.
The Metam Sodium Task Force
The Metam Sodium Task Force has retained CURES to develop a program to promote stewardship practices for the soil fumigant to growers and applicators in the West. CURES will work with the task force to develop outreach materials, including stewardship booklets and educational slide shows. The effort will begin in June and continue through the summer and fall.
The Sulfur Task Force
The Sulfur Task Force and CURES have published a 4-pg booklet entitled Sulfur Best Application Practices. More than 20,000 copies of the stewardship booklet were mailed in May to grower groups and farm chemical dealers in California. This booklet is one of several projects CURES developed for the task force to inform growers about managing sulfur drift near sensitive areas. A Spanish language version is in the works as is a version for aerial applicators. CURES Executive Director Parry Klassen has also assisted task force chairman Larry Lauchner in numerous presentations to grower groups in the state.
San Luis Obispo County
The San Luis Obispo County Ag commissioner’s office is featuring CURES’ Executive Director Parry Klassen as a speaker in a seminar entitled “Managing Pesticide Drift: Understanding Your Options.” Klassen will be joined by speakers from makers of high-tech sprayers and nozzles in the half-day training and demonstration event for growers and applicators on the Central Coast. Information on the seminar is available by contacting Brenda Ouwerkerk at 805-781-1556.
TMDL process in Newport Bay
CURES continues its involvement in the TMDL process in Newport Bay, CA. At a recent meeting organized by the University of California in Irvine, we helped bring many industry stakeholders into a group that totaled more than 50. We were also given time on the program to describe the CURES stewardship materials developed with RISE and WCPA funding. Several pest control companies in the region are distributing CURES stewardship materials to customers and employees.
Pesticide Applicator Professional Association (PAPA)
More than 2700 commercial pesticide applicators in California heard the CURES presentation on protecting water quality over the last six months. Parry Klassen was on the program at seven Pesticide Applicator Professional Association (PAPA) training meetings, giving a stewardship presentation developed through funding from RISE (Responsible Industry For Sound Environment). The presentation described the water quality issue, impending Clean Water Act regulations (TMDLs), and Best Management Practices that can reduce the movement of pesticides into water.
Proteccion de su Salud: Proteccion de Trabajadores Expuestos a Pesticidas
The Farmworker Training Manual: "Proteccion de su Salud: Proteccion de Trabajadores Expuestos a Pesticidas." was published in May by the Western Plant Health Association (formerly Western Crop Protection Association) and CURES. More than 105,000 copies were distributed to workers through Western Farm Press newspaper and government, rural health, and farm worker organizations in the West.
Recently completed CURES stewardship brochures and booklets:
- Mixing and Loading Crop Sprayers
- Sulfur: Best Application Practices
- Residential Pest Control Landscape Management
Join the CURES Stewardship Effort
- Mixing and Loading Crop Sprayers
- Sulfur: Best Application Practices
- Residential Pest Control Landscape Management
Join the CURES Stewardship Effort
Want to join the CURES stewardship bandwagon and contribute to this worthy effort? Support our programs in either agriculture or urban areas: it’s good for the environment and your company or organization. For more information, contact Len Richardson at 925-687-1662 or lrichardson@farmprogress.com or Parry Klassen at 559-325-9855 or parry@curesworks.org or contact CURES directly.
For information on CURES, contact Parry Klassen: parry@curesworks.org.
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