IPM Institute News: IPM in the Marketplace
July 2006
Volume 7 Issue No. 3
Contents
I. IPM STAR: A One-of-a-Kind
Certification Program
II.
IPM Education for
Pesticide Retailers and Consumers at Point of Sale
III.
New Resources
I. IPM STAR:
A One-of-a-Kind Certification Program
This
month Fort Riley Child Development Centers became the latest
facility to receive IPM STAR
certification, verifying the centers
adhere to the highest IPM standards.
Fort
Riley, located near
Manhattan, Kansas,
joins 17 other school systems
receiving this distinction nationwide, and the third certified
this year.
The IPM
STAR program was created in 2003 to both increase adoption of IPM
in schools and improve public awareness of an appreciation for
IPM. The evaluation
process is modeled after point-based IPM measurement systems
developed for agriculture, including Massachusetts
Partners with Nature and Cornell
IPM Elements. Points
are earned based on how many IPM or related Best Management
Practices (BMPs) are implemented.
Schools are evaluated based on an on-site visit by an IPM
professional, consisting of an interview and a walk-through of
representative school facilities.
Poor communication between administration and pest
management professionals, landscape service contractors, school
staff and others is a common problem, according to Dr. Thomas
Green, president of the IPM Institute who has led many of the
evaluations.
“During walk-throughs,” said Green, “we found that
administrators are often not as aware as they could be of pest
problems and pesticide use practices.”
For these administrators, the process is often an
eye-opener.
The walk throughs focus on pest-vulnerable areas such as kitchens,
food storage areas, cafeterias, teacher lounges, custodial
closets, mechanical rooms, locker rooms and concession stands at
high school athletic fields. The
building’s “skin” including exterior surfaces, doorways and
windows that can provide or block pest entry are also carefully
inspected. “If a
school has an agriculture or horticulture study program, we take a
close look at that as well,” Green reports.
“We want to see that IPM is being implemented and
taught in those programs, but that’s typically not been the
case.”
Other common deficiencies include unauthorized use of pesticides,
unchecked pest problems, calendar-based pesticide applications to
athletic fields and haphazard selection of pesticides without
regard to toxicity. Very
few schools spray-apply of pesticides to exposed interior
surfaces, and indication of success in education and marketing
efforts focused on insecticidal baits for cockroaches and ants.
Within three to four weeks, the school system receives a set of
“interim” reports, including the scored evaluation, a cover
letter with prioritized recommendations and a pesticide hazard
evaluation and ranking. These
reports are finalized once the school system has an opportunity to
review and note any improvements made since the evaluation.
After the school system achieves a passing “grade,” a
joint press release is issued, the certification is presented at a
public meeting, and a profile of the program is posted on the IPM
Institute website.
“The program is one of the most rewarding and enjoyable that
I’ve been involved with,” says Green.
“School professionals are overwhelmingly committed to the
health and safety of their students and staff, and are very
responsive to suggestions on how they might improve.
On average, school systems have increased their scores by
13 points between the evaluation visit and the final reports.”
To date, 26 school systems have been evaluated and 17 certified,
impacting more than 2 million school children. The program
received initial funding from the USDA
IPM Program and the EPA
Pesticide Environmental Stewardship Program. The program is
being implemented throughout the Army with support of the Office
of Assistant Chief for Installation Management and the US
Army Environmental Center.
For more about Fort
Riley CDC and the other certified school systems, please visit
the IPM
STAR website.
II. IPM
Education for Pesticide Retailers and Consumers at Point of Sale
Eighty-five
percent of consumers keep at least one pesticide in their
household, according to a 1992 US EPA survey.
Most consumers turn to home and garden retailers for
pesticide advice, yet according to a 1995
Illinois
survey, only 34% of
retailers provide staff training on pesticides sold in their
stores.
This
presents a great opportunity for IPM devotees to improve retailer
education in the IPM realm. These
“key influencers” of consumer behavior need skills in basic
pesticide safety, pest
identification and IPM-based recommendations including both
non-chemical and chemical options.
A number
of innovative programs tackling this need are described on the IPM
Institute-website, along with other related resources and
references. For
example, in the
Grow
Green Program based in Austin, TX, IPM professionals have created DVDs for training retailers
on general principles of less toxic gardening and lawn care.
The Chesapeake Club Advertising Campaign is also described,
where program staff have produced a series of TV
commercials designed to educate consumers to delay lawn
fertilization until the fall season.
Another program, Our
Water Our World, has been operating since 1997. Over 80
Orchard Supply Hardware stores throughout
California
participate in OWOW by distributing
pest fact sheets to consumers.
Professionals with a broad variety
of backgrounds and interests have met by conference call and in
conjunction with the 2006
IPM Symposium to share information and ideas for moving
forward on IPM education for retailers and consumers. The calls
are hosted by the USDA
Northeastern IPM Center and the IPM Institute.
To join this network and receive information about future
events, please contact
us.
III.
New Resources
A new website, www.ProNewEngland.org
provides access to over one thousand fact sheets featuring
Northeast region pests. Users
can also find local events, reports and related information on a
wide range of subjects including biotechnology, organic
certification and pesticide selection and safety.
Many of the events listed provide continuing education
credits for pesticide applicators.
The Small
Farm Resource Guide is now in its second edition, directing
readers to programs available to small operations.
Available in pdf
format, the document lists organizations by state offering
expertise and information relevant to small farms including
marketing, risk management, technical assistance, production
techniques and organic certification.
Brief program descriptions and contact information are
provided for most resources.
Finally, the USDA Sustainable
Agriculture Research and Education (SARE), has published a new
bulletin detailing innovative ways farmers and ranchers can use
water wisely. The
introduction describes a tree farmer who, with the aid of a SARE
grant, developed a contour system featuring irrigation “holes”
which trap hillside runoff and convey it to tree roots. Other
water-saving practices include conservation tillage, crop rotation
and water cycling. Read
the bulletin
online. A free
hard-copy version is available to educators.
