Participating
Baumgartner, Braband, Butler, Cloyd, Criswell, Czapar, Feldman, Flint, Gold, Gold, Green, Johnson, Kaplan, Koplinka-Loehr, Malinoski, Martinez, Moses, Murray, Richards, Rosenberg, Seikel, Wagner, Whitford, Wilen, Zeh
DISCUSSION
What is our goal?
- Minimize harm to the environment and human health
- Get information to people who need it; educate residents through
- retail stores (point-of-purchase) about pesticides, alternatives, good
choices
- Educate (train) the retailers themselves
Pesticide safety education needs
- best practices
- proper PPE use
- following the label
- application rates, square footage calculation
- application equipment calibration
- some participants wondered whether we “were beyond pesticide safety”
Less toxic product selection/promotion
- product selection by distributors, retailers
- preferential promotion, messaging
- product substitution for more toxic products
- promoting non-chemical products such as caulk, steel/copper mesh, rakes, training videos (can be packaged with non-chemical products)
- organic or natural does not necessarily equal low impact, e.g., rotenone and fish toxicity, nutrient runoff/leaching from natural fertilizers
Proper plant selection
- we should focus on the customer’s FIRST visit to the store
- avoiding key plants that are pest prone in general or in specific geographic areas
- avoiding invasives, e.g., pampas grass was discontinued after coalition approached chain
- information after sale placement and care to minimize pest and other problems
- the customer’s second visit is a crisis (“What do I do with this problem?”) that they may try to solve with a pesticide
- 80% of landscape business is maintenance rather than installation, so information has to address plants already in place
Retailer perspective
- Retailers are primary source of information for consumer product selection and use
- $4 billion annual retail pesticide market
- retailers want one independent message not generated by industry; universities, government and NGOs have credibility
- challenge to educate sales staff given high turnover rates
- Independent retailers may be better target, tend to have lower staff turnover and may be more comfortable with expertise as part of their overall profit model
- We can provide retailers with training, materials; what would we ask them to do in return?
- Sales force includes those at manufacturer and distributor level
- #1 consumer complaint is “there is a weed in my lawn”; very low tolerance for weeds
Market
- Market is changing, growth in organic is evidence, we have an opportunity to lead
- Market could jump to organic vs. conventional products
- Two market segments: eco-sensitive and not, opportunity to improve education of both but different approaches may be needed
- Third segment may be organic/natural
Connecting to retail stores
Write letters to them with the following: a) we know you’re environmentally aware; b) here’s another market; c) we recommend you sell alternatives; d) we can offer information/resources (training materials; do training; web; print-on-demand machines; shopping list of products; local Cooperative Extension; water bans; fewer inputs; less lawn); e) invite them to a meeting with us.
Educational kiosks didn’t do too well in Chicago stores
Retailers may be willing but we need to agree on the definition of what we’re delivering.
The term “IPM” has limited recognition with consumers and retailers.
Use connections we already have: (e.g., Scotts; John Butler and the head of environmental stewardship at Lowe’s; Bayer; Spectracide)
Prepare educational videos akin to those available to customers purchasing flooring
Potential for a workshop on educating pesticide retailers and consumers about IPM
- two Symposium sessions on April 5 (IPM Education for Retailers and Facilitating Implementation of Residential Turf IPM: Working Towards Consensus) included topics that would be suitable for such a workshop
- important to come out of a workshop with plan, assignments for followup actions, not just talk
- focus could be on IPM education at the retail sales level
- we might address each sub-topic separately and in greater detail as a group, then split out into breakouts by sub-topic to create plans, assignments, etc.
NEXT STEPS
- call notes, contacts out to the broader list including those expressing interest and/or participating in previous conference call; set up website with program summaries, resources and references; (IPM Institute)
- followup conference call to be hosted by USDA Northeastern IPM Center
