PLENARY Pesticide Stewardship Conference Q Meetology: Creative Class
PRE CON
Pesticide Stewardship Buzzes Into Boise
MEETING: 2012 Pesticide Stewardship Conference, meeting at the Boise Centre on Feb. 8–9. Organized by The Pesticide Stewardship Alli- ance (TPSA) — which is dedi- cated to ensuring “the safety and efficacy of pesticides from manufacture, marketing, and commerce, through stor- age and use, and ultimately disposal” — the meeting is expected to draw more than 120 government regulators, university researchers, pesti- cide manufacturers, students, and other industry profes- sionals.
CHALLENGES: For 2012, TPSA is shaving a half-day off what used to be a two- and-a-half-day meeting. “The biggest challenge I’ll have is getting all our sessions lined up to squeeze into a two-day
conference,” said Ed Cranson, environmental health services manager with the J.R. Simplot Company, who chairs both TPSA’s board of directors and its conference committee. “Basically, two-and-a-half days was fine, but we thought we could be successful with just a two-day conference, covering the same issues.” To that end, TPSA has opt- ed to preserve its educational programming and eliminate a reception the night before the conference officially begins. “Everything else,” Cranson said, “is pretty much staying the same.”
INITIATIVES: In addition to sessions on integrated pesti- cide management, pesticide spray drift, pesticide disposal, container regulation, and other classic industry topics,
TPSA for the first time will offer programming on agri- cultural plastics management — which has to do with the proper use of plastic prod- ucts that are used in farming. “That’s a new and growing segment of our organization,” Cranson said.
The goal is to give
pesticide-stewardship profes- sionals their premier event. “It’s just a great networking opportunity for membership and folks to get together to participate and learn the dif- ferent challenges we have in the pesticide industry,” Cran- son said. “We’re tying to be a good resource for everyone for educational purposes.” n — Christopher Durso