Progress 09/01/12 to 08/31/13
Outputs
Target Audience: Private and commercial pesticide applicators, primarily in Massachusetts and throughout New England Changes/Problems:
Nothing Reported
What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?
Nothing Reported
How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest? The program maintains a website with information on scheduled recertification training seminars and sends notification of the schedule to all the pesticide applicators on the mailing list provided by the state regulatory agency (MDAR). What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?
Nothing Reported
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
The UMass Extension Pesticide Education Program in cooperation with the Massachusetts Department of Agricultural Resources is responsible for providing initial and continuing education to Massachusetts licensed and certified pesticide applicators. Approximately 3300 pesticide exam study manuals were distributed by the UMass Extension Bookstore to approximately 2000 individuals preparing for the state administered pesticide applicator license exams. The Pesticide Education program conducted twenty-four two-day workshops to help individuals prepared for the Massachusetts state pesticide license exams. Approximately 24% of the individuals who take the state pesticide applicator license exam participate in the optional workshop. The workshop covers a variety of topics including, pest identification, pesticide types and formulations, toxicity of pesticides, first aid for pesticide poisoning, pesticide label comprehension, personal protective equipment, environmental fate of pesticides, integrated pest management, and state and federal laws and regulations. Individuals use this workshop as a supplement to self study and they also have an opportunity to ask questions. A practice exam is also provided to individuals to take home and use as a pesticide exam study tool. The Program used exam results provided by the Massachusetts Department of Agricultural Resources to determine the exam passing rate for our pesticide exam training workshop participants. Individuals who took the workshop continue to pass at a higher rate than those who did not take the workshop. Fifty-nine percent of the individuals who took the workshop passed the exam compared to a passing rate of 50% for nonparticipants. This represents a 16.5% percentage difference in the passing rate between the two groups. The Program also offered 20 pesticide recertification training workshops to individuals that have pesticide licenses and certifications. Topics covered in the series included: Massachusetts Pesticide Laws and Regulations, Turf Insect Pest Identification and Management, School Integrated Pest Management Law and Implementation, Pesticide Applicator Safety: Using Material Safety Data Sheets for a Safer Work Environment, Pesticide Exposure Studies, Invasive Insect Pests, Pesticide Impacts on Wildlife, Environmental Fate of Pesticides and Massachusetts groundwater regulations, Insecticides and their Mode of Action, Pesticides and Pest Resistance, and EPA Worker Protection Standard (WPS), Risk Management and other topics for Agriculture. There were a total of 1,815 individuals who participated in the workshops. All participants were given an opportunity to evaluate the workshops. Of the 1362 individuals who completed evaluations, 60% indicated that they increased their knowledge, "very much" and 55% indicated that they would "very much" use the information/techniques that they learned. In addition to our standard workshops, lectures on calibration of pesticide equipment, pesticides and the Endangered Species Act, integrated pest management in schools, pesticide exposure, pesticide formulations, pesticide toxicity, fate of pesticides in the environment, pesticide laws and regulations were also given in undergraduate courses at UMass-Amherst and at the Western Massachusetts Master Gardener Association
Publications
|