Progress 05/01/11 to 04/30/16
Outputs
Target Audience:The primary audience for this project are pesticide applicators. We are also assisting the State Lead Agency in their pesticide enforcement efforts. During the work we interact and inform Extension educators, MSU campus based specialists and technicians and several commodity and professional associations of new rules, regulations and educational materials. Changes/Problems:
Nothing Reported
What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?This project has allowed us to continue to conduct pesticide safety training, pesticide regulation training so that applicators are aware of the new regulation and their requirements, and pesticide certification and CCA exam item analysis to improve both programs effectiveness, descrimination and reliability. Training programs will continue to reach people initially being trained to pass their certification exams and those needing recertification credits. We will continue to serve on the several state, regional and national advisory committees to help form new regulations and develop revised or new training materials as needed. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?We have numerous methods of outreach of our materials. Our web site is active for the next generation who communicate best in this manner. We have a twitter account that is not very active. We provide written reports almost monthly to some group that we are involved with. We continue to prepare revised and updated training manuals to reach specific audiences with appropriate information. We publish a Newsletter quarterly. We have conducted over 100 face-to-face talks presenting information to applicator audiences, and enhance that with training material to educators who in turn use that to inform their audiences. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?
Nothing Reported
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
Objective 1 projects were acheived by including pesticide misuse incidents as examples in certification and recertifcation training programs. This included Imprelis legal applications to turf for broadleaf control and the movement of the material off site which killed adjoining evergreen trees. Also is a large pesticide dealer who repackaged pesticides without a licence to conduct that business and sold them in smaller quantities illegally. Objective 2 included working with the Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (MDARD) Pesticide and Plant Pest Management (PPPM) Division, Region 5 EPA Pre-SFIREG committee, regional and national leadership for the American Association of Pesticide Safety Educators (AAPSE) to develop new materials to better understand new laws and regulations. John Stone developed a 25B labels PowerPoint presentation and gave it several times to explain how products that claim to be safer can be registered and used, and that has become a national training resource. He is the North Central region representative to the AAPSE Board and participates on the quarterly meetings and we continue to provide input to national issues through that committee. Larry serves on the chemical industry funded Board of Directors for the Pesticide Safety Education Program 'Improvement and Modernization Initiative' program representing the Extension Directors. This program is providing competitive funding to state PESP program for three years to assist them in becoming more self sustaining and to coordinate development of new national training materials. We serve on the MDARD Pesticide Advisory Committee and Michigan AgriBusiness Association Pesticide Committee and provide updates on our progran and assist in advising them in new policy areas. Larry chairs the MDARD Right to Farm Pesticide GAAMPs and provide leadership to update and revise them annually. We had input and modified the states criteria for of topics that are allowed in training programs for pesticide recertification. Included in our training programs are the new requirements promulgated in the EPA Pesticide Certification and Training rules and the revised requirements in the Worker Protection Standards. Objective 3 Larry has completed exam question item analysis and submitted reports to the MDARD PPPM Division for the revised 3A turf exam and for the 7A General Pest Management exam. All these reports were provided to and discussed with the MDARD Pesticide Certification Exam Committee for their use in re-evaluating the exam questions that were identified in the analysis as not providing the discrimination needed. Larry completed two annual item analysis of the Michigan AgriBusiness Association Certified Crop Advisor exam and provided feedback to the Exam Committe of which Larry chaired. The committee looked at the questions that were identificed that were not preforming well and rewrote the stem or distractor to improve the fairness and discrimination of the questions. CCA exam analysis and exam modification increased the number of test takers passing the exam. The number of people passing the exam should increase even further in future years as additional questions are improved for clarity and fairness. By having better training materials for both Certified Crop Advisors and pesticide safety training, advisors and applicators should become better informed on the proper use of agricultural inputs and pesticides to avoid human and environmental exposures. Better exam questions should improve the reliability of the exam to measure competence and the scores should improve on the certification exams.
Publications
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Progress 10/01/14 to 09/30/15
Outputs
Target Audience:The primary audience for this project are pesticide applicators. We are also assisting the State Lead Agency in their pesticide enforcement efforts. During the work we interact and inform several commodity associations of new rules, regulations and educational materials. Changes/Problems:
Nothing Reported
What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?We will continue to conduct pesticide and CCA exam item analysis to improve both programs effectiveness, descrimination and reliability. Training programs will continue to reach people initially being trained to pass their certification exams and those needing recertification credits. We will continue to serve on the several state, regional and national advisory committees to help form new regulations and develop revised or new training materials as needed. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?We have numerous methods of outreach of our materials. Our web site is active for the next generation who communicate best in this manner. We have a twitter account that is not very active. We provide written reports almost monthly to some group that we are involved with. We continue to preparerevised and updated training manuals to reach specific audiences with appropriate information. We publish a Newsletter quarterly. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?I will continue to serve on advisory committees and work to revise and update materials and exams until I retire on May 15, 2106.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
Accomplishments for Objective 1 were acheived by including pesticide misuse incidents as examples in certification and recertifcation training programs. This included Imprelis legal applications to turf for broadleaf control and the movement of the material off site which killed adjoining evergreen trees. Also is a large pesticide dealer who repackaged pesticides without a licence to conduct that business and sold them in smaller quantities illegally. Accomplishments for Objective 2 included working with the Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (MDARD) Pesticide and Plant Pest Management (PPPM) Division, Region 5 EPA Pre-SFIREG committee, regional and national leadership for the American Association of Pesticide Safety Educators (AAPSE) to develop new materials to better understand new laws and regulations. John Stone developed a 25B labels PowerPoint presentation and gave it several times to explain how products that claim to be safer can be registered and used. He is the North Central region representative to the AAPSE Board and participates on the quarterly meetings. I serve on the chemical industry funded Board of Directors for the Pesticide Safety Education Program 'Improvement and Modernization Initiative' program representing the Extension Directors. This program is providing competitive funding to state PESP program for three years to assist them in becoming more self sustaining and to coordinate development of new national training materials. We serve on the MDARD Pesticide Advisory Committee and Michigan AgriBusiness Association Pesticide Committee and provide updates on our progran and assist in advising them in new policy areas. I also chair the MDARD Right to Farm Pesticide GAAMPs and provide leadership to update and revise them annually. For Objective 3 I have completed exam question item analysis and submitted reports to the MDARD PPPM Division for the revised 3A turf exam based on my initial assessment and revised questions. I also contucted an item analysis for the 7A General Pest Managementexam. All these reports were provided to and discussed with the MDARD Pesticide Certification Exam Committee for their use in re-evaluating the exam questions the were identified in my analysis as not providing the discrimination needed. I also twice this year conducted an item analysis of the MABA Certified Crop Advisor exam and provided feedback to the Exam Committe of which I was chair. The committee looked at the questions I identified that were not preforming well and rewrote the stem or distractor to improve the fairness and discrimination of the questions. We conduct face-to-face pesticide safety training programs and nearly 2,000 people paid to attend the programs this year. We also reached thousands of additional people each year in non fee-for-service events. We also reach 1000's of people though sales of over 6,500 training manuals.
Publications
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Progress 10/01/13 to 09/30/14
Outputs
Target Audience: The primary audience for this project are pesticide applicators. We are also assisting the State Lead Agency in their pesticide enforcement efforts. During the work we interact and inform several commodity associations of new rules, regulations and educational materials. Changes/Problems:
Nothing Reported
What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided? We will continue to conduct pesticide and CCA exam item analysis to improve both programs effectiveness and reliability. Training programs will continue to reach people initially being trained to pass their certification exams and those needing recertification credits. We will continue to serve on the several state, regional and national advisory committees to help form new regulations and develop revised or new training materials as needed. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest? We have numerous methods of outreach of our materials. Our web site is active for the next generation who communicate best in this manner. We have a twitter account that is not very active. We provide written reports almost monthly to some group that we are involved with. We continue to prepare revised and updated training manuals to reach specific audiences with appropriate information. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? We will continue to serve on advisory committees and work to revise and update materials and exams.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
Accomplishments for Objective 1 were acheived by including pesticide misuse incidents as examples in certification and recertifcation training programs. This included Imprelis legal applications to turf for broadleaf control and the movement of the material off site which killed adjoining evergreen trees. Also is a large pesticide dealer who repackaged pesticides without a licence to conduct that business and sold them in smaller quantities illegally. Accomplishments for Objective 2 included working with the Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (MDARD) Pesticide and Plant Pest Management (PPPM) Division, Region 5 EPA Pre-SFIREG committee, regional and national leadership for the American Association of Pesticide Safety Educators (AAPSE) to develop new materials to better understand new laws and regulations. John Stone developed a 25B labels PowerPoint presentation and gave it several times to explain how products that claim to be safer can be registered and used. He is the North Central region representative to the AAPSE Board and participates on the quarterly meetings. I serve on the chemical industry funded Board of Directors for the Pesticide Safety Education Program 'Improvement and Modernization Initiative' program representing the Extension Directors. This program is providing competitive funding to state PESP program for three years to assist them in becoming more self sustaining and to coordinate development of new national training materials. We serve on the MDARD Pesticide Advisory Committee and Michigan AgriBusiness Association Pesticide Committee and provide updates on our progran and assist in advising them in new policy areas. I also chair the MDARD Right to Farm Pesticide GAAMPs and provide leadership to update and revise them annually. For Objective 3 I have completed exam question item analysis and submitted reports to the MDARD PPPM Division for the original 3A turf exam and revised 3A turf exam based on my initial assessment and revised questions. I also contucted an item analysis for the 3B ornamantal exam and the 7A General Pest Management exam. All these reports were provided to and discussed with the MDARD Pesticide Certification Exam Committee for their use in re-evaluating the exam questions the were identified in my analysis as not providing the discrimination needed. I also twice this year conducted an item analysis of the MABA Certified Crop Advisor exam and provided feedback to the Exam Committe of which I am chair. The committee looked at the questions I identified that were not preforming well and rewrote the stem or distractor to improve the fairness and discrimination of the qestions. We conduct face-to-face pesticide safety trainingprograms and nearly 2,000 people paid to attend the programs this year. We also reached thousands of additional people each year in non fee-for-service events. We also reach 1000's of people though sales of over 6,500 training manuals.
Publications
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Progress 01/01/13 to 09/30/13
Outputs
Target Audience: This research is conducted to interpret the laws and regulations and prepareeducational materials in common language to explain them in understandable terms to applicators. These have helped applicators, including farmers, commercial users and home owners, to manage how they use pesticides if needed to limit the negative impacts and comply with the laws and regulations. We will continue to conduct this applied research to assist applicators to protect the environment and themselves by understanding and complying with the laws and regulations. Changes/Problems:
Nothing Reported
What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided? This project allows for the deveopment and conducting of pesticide certification training programs for initial certification and recertification. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest? The primary audience of the turf exam anaylsis is the Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development Pesticide and Plant Pest Management Division Exam Committee.A final report was delivered to them and a presentation made on the process and resultswith recommendations on which questions need to be reviewed and rewritten. They have rewritten their exam and we are now analysizing the next version to see if it has improved passing scores. The Certified Crop Advisor exam was has been improved two different times and the results are evident with passing scores improvement. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? We will continue to conduct additional exam item analysis for the revised turf exam and general pest management category exam, and the CCA exam.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
The test item analysis was completed for both the turfgrass pesticide certification exam and the Certified Crop Advisors exam. Poor questions were identified and rewritten or substituted to improve the quality, fairness and reliability of the exams.
Publications
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Progress 01/01/12 to 12/31/12
Outputs
OUTPUTS: The Pesticide Safety Education Program for which I am Director participates in many advisory groups where we share our pesticide safety information. The Michigan AgriBusiness Association (MABA) Pesticide Advisory Committee meets quarterly and we share our new safety materials with them and bring the chemical industry representatives up to date on our activities. This is then shared with the broader industry in the MABA Ag Facts newsletter. The Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (MDARD) has a Pesticide Advisory Committee quarterly meeting where we provide a detailed written report of our activities during the previous quarter, and at year end we provide a final report to the committee, MDARD pesticide staff and regional EPA personnel. The Michigan Aerial Applicators Association has a pesticide education committee which we are using to editor the new national Aerial certification training manual. We attend the semi-annual Pre-State FIFRA Issues Research and Evaluation Group (Pre-SFIREG) meeting in Region 5 and share our information with the 6 state lead agencies and EPA staff. The PSEP program hosted the North Central Region Pesticide Certification and Training Workshop. The two full day event provided a significant amount of new information on pesticide regullations and training materials to the 49 attendees. I represent MSU on the NCERA-197 Farm Safety regional committee and take the lead for pesticide issues that the group deals with. I also review all the farm safety materials and white papers we produce. I completed an item analysis for MABA's Certified Crop Advisor program to improve the discrimination and reliabilty for the state CCA exam. I also completed a pesticide 3A Turf grass pesticide certification exam item analysis and provided to MDARD 45 questions that need to be reviewed and revised as they provide very little discrimination in applicatior scores. PARTICIPANTS: Dr. Chris DiFonzo, Entomology Professor, MSU; Mr. Brian Rowe, Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, Pesticide and Plant Pest Management Division; Mr. Brian Verhougstraete, Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, Pesticide and Plant Pest Management Division; Mr. John Stone, Michigan State University Pesticide Safety Education Program Coordinator; Ms. Joy Landis, Michigan State University, Entomology Department, IPM Program Assistant Coordinator; Ms. Lynnae Jess, Michigan State University, Entomology Department, North Central Region IPM Center Assistant Director. TARGET AUDIENCES: We are completing our objectives in cooperation with partners such as the pesticide industry, grower associations, Michigan AgriBusiness Association, Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, Michigan Department of Environmental Quality, Michigan Department of Natural Resources, Natural Resources Conservation Service, Michigan Agriculture Statistic Service, Michigan Department of Community Health and Michigan State University Human Medicine Department and the Michigan Poison Control Centers. Other groups include: EPA Region 5 Pre-SFIREG; Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development PPPM Pesticide Advisory Committee, Environmental Stewardship Groundwater Advisory Council, Pesticide Generally Accepted Agricultural Management Practices; Department of Environmental Quality, NPDES; Michigan Agribusiness Pesticide Committee; and Natural Resources Conservation Service, Environmental Quality Incentive Program, Conservation Reserve Program. PROJECT MODIFICATIONS: Nothing significant to report during this reporting period.
Impacts
By having better training materials for both Certified Crop Advisors and pesticide safety training, advisors and applicators should become better informed on the proper use of agricultural inputs and pesticides to avoid human and environmental exposures. Better exam questions should improve the reliability of the exam to measure competence and the scores should improve on the certification exams.
Publications
- Davis, T., and Randall, C. (eds). 2011. "Turfgrass pest management: a guide for commercial applicators in category 3A/ E-2327". Rev ed. East Lansing, Michigan State University, MSU Extension.
- Davis, T., Randall, C. and Brown-Rytlewski, D. (Eds.). 2011. "Ornamental plant pest management: a guide for commercial applicators in category 3B". E-2291. Rev Ed. East Lansing: Michigan State University, MSU Extension.
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Progress 01/01/11 to 12/31/11
Outputs
OUTPUTS: This is a new project just initiated in May, 2011 and very few outputs have been completed as yet. I did attend the EPA Office of Pesticide Program's Stakeholder Workshop on "21st Century Toxicology and Exposure Science" in order to gain a better understanding of human pesticide exposure assessment to use in future research. The workshop failed to provide the expected information. A new version of the Michigan Certified Adviser Study Guide was published to aide test takers prepare for the exam. The Certified Crop Adviser Exam item analysis was completed and it was discovered there were numerous poor questions which were not providing the necessary discrimination and reliability expected. Based on the review one question was deleted and replaced, three additional new questions added, eight stems were modified to make them clearer, and 10 distractors were improved. I also attended the National Association of State Department of Agriculture Research Foundation and EPA workshop "Pesticide Certification Exam Development Workshop" to assist in improving my skills in conducting item analysis and exam question writing. PARTICIPANTS: CCA exam item analysis - John Kaufman, Michigan AgriBusiness Association, John assisted with item analysis and preparing alternative language for the exam. Brian Verhougstraete of the Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development participated in the NASDARF workshop with me and will assist in future exam writing exercises. TARGET AUDIENCES: CCA exam - the audience for this effort are individuals in Michigan who seek to be certified as knowledgeable in crop production, pest management, soil and water quality, and soil fertility. With the certificate they can remain an employee of certain consulting firms or private industries and have an additional certificate that confirms their knowledge in these areas to customers and farmers who hire them as experts and crop production advisers. PROJECT MODIFICATIONS: Not relevant to this project.
Impacts
CCA exam analysis and exam modification increased the number of test takers passing the exam. The number of people passing the exam should increase even further in future years as additional questions are improved for clarity and fairness.
Publications
- Kaufman, J. E.; Olsen, L.G. 2011. Michigan Certified Crop Adviser Study Guide. Michigan Agri-Business Association. (published 150 pp.179)
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