The Pesticide Stewardship Alliance Presents 2019 Awards

For Immediate Release

Friday, March 15, 2019

Contact:

Ples Spradley, TPSA Awards Chair

Phone:  501-671-2234

E-mail: pspradley@uaex.edu

Wendy Sue Wheeler, TPSA Immediate Past President

Phone:  509-335-4183

E-mail: wswheeler@wsu.eduu

St. Louis, MO – The Pesticide Stewardship Alliance (TPSA) held its annual conference in Savannah, Georgia in February and presented several awards.

Program Excellence Award:  Wayne Buhler,  PhD; NC State University

Dr. Wayne Buhler is the statewide coordinator of the NC Pesticide Safety Education Program and a TPSA member.  Besides his work with the North Carolina PSEP, he also serves as national coordinator for the Center for IPM’s Pesticide Environmental Stewardship website and the Pesticide Safety Education Program resources repository website.

Some of Wayne’s PSEP program and managerial innovations include:

  • Pesticide record keeping manual developed in 2000 and adopted by USDA Pesticide Records Branch. Over 50,000 copies have been distributed nationwide.
  • The manual has remained very popular and an electronic version was produced in 2009 as well as companion manual for auxin herbicides in 2018.
  • Created the Southern Region Pesticide Safety Education Center in 2001 as a “train-the-trainer” program for Extension Agents and State Pesticide Inspectors from the 13 state USDA Southern Region.
  • Three-day workshops emphasizing “hands-on” methods for proper pesticide handling were offered at NC State University in 2001-2005. Over 260 participants attended the workshops.
  • He’s also been a leader in pesticide dealer training. He conducted a mail-in survey of all pesticide dealers across North Carolina in 2001.  Survey results indicated that dealers had only a minimal level of knowledge of the topics that the survey preparation committee deemed critical, such as storage, transportation, record keeping, and supplemental labeling.
  • Wayne coordinated the development of the “Dealer Day 2003” training programs offered at five regional locations in January and February 2003. Over 150 dealers attended the event.  A website developed specifically for dealers was demonstrated as a portal for information on pest identification and management.
  • In collaboration with Dr. Gary Roberson, NC State Department of Biological and Agricultural Engineering, Wayne developed The Sprayer Nozzle Tip Education and Training Program in January 2018. They constructed 30 spray nozzle tables for use by extension agents.  Each table has a nozzle tip assembly that holds five different nozzle tips.  The nozzle tips, provided by TeeJet Spraying Systems depict the technologies used by tip manufacturers to minimize drift potential from extended range flat fan – to venture-style air induction – to turbulence chamber designs.  The spray tables allow audience members to see and touch the outputs of the tips at various pressures and have been very well received at extension training sessions.

Outstanding Member ContributionKimberly Gilbert, Corteva

The conference committee chair may be one of the hardest jobs in TPSA.  Many folks are involved in putting together the program for the annual conference, but the bulk of the work, and the critical position, is that of the Chair of the committee.  The work is detailed and time consuming and the deadlines always sneak up on the committee.  The extra work of multi-track, concurrent sessions only makes it more challenging work.  And then there are the personalities and occasionally an ego or two, to deal with.

As one of the nominators said, “Kimberly Gilbert has served as the Conference Committee Chair for the last two years and has done an outstanding job.  She has worked very hard to coordinate all aspects of planning and contracting our TPSA Conferences.  This is by far the most time demanding position in TPSA.  Her cheerfulness and “can-do” attitude has been great in motivating the committee.”

Another Board member who has worked closely with Kimberly said, ”She is well connected in her position as she serves as a Product Stewardship Specialist with Corteva.  When we stumbled on the agenda, she had her finger on the pulse and had an idea or a connection to move us forward.  Her insight from the beginning of the conference planning process was extremely beneficial in developing an informative and engaging conference.  She does her homework and keeps the conversations going by suggesting ideas, discusses different approaches, and helps craft all aspects of the agenda.  She follows-up and encourages the committee to do their work and is always looking for input and ideas from committee and members.”

Kimberly has definitely been an active participant in conference planning for TPSA and an active TPSA member from the very beginning!

President’s Award – Derrick Bell, North Carolina Department of Agriculture & Consumer Services

Derrick Bell has been a TPSA member for more than 12 years.  Derrick’s commitment and dedication to the Alliance have been and continues to be significant through multiple and various roles.  He continues to work with the conference chair as he has done for several years in developing disposal and recycling track agenda topics, presenting and participating in panel discussions, recruiting speakers and acting as session moderator on numerous occasions. Derrick brings timely and valuable topics to the table.

He has served on the Board of Directors as the Government representative in 2010 and as the membership committee chair from 2010-2017.  He’s worked to retain and recruit members. Derrick’s commitment to TPSA is strong.

As manager of the North Carolina Department of Agriculture & Consumer Service’s Pesticide Disposal Assistance Program, Derrick and his team have brought outstanding service and record-breaking pesticide collections for 2014, 2016 and for 2017 more than 200,000 pounds were collected.  Since its inception in 1980, the first of its kind in the U.S., nearly 4 million pounds of pesticides have been collected and properly disposed of at no cost to NC citizens.  Derrick has excellent working relationships with NC Cooperative Extension, Solid Waste Services, disposal contractors and the ag community.  The NCDA&CS Pesticide Disposal Assistance Program received the TPSA award for Program Excellence in 2015.

TPSA President Wendy Sue Wheeler concluded, “Derrick’s can-do philosophy, integrity and natural, quiet leadership style are a shining example for others to follow.”

The Pesticide Stewardship Alliance (TPSA), founded in 2000, is an organization of federal, state and local governmental agencies, educational and research institutions, public organizations, private corporations and individuals that are actively involved in different aspects of pesticide stewardship.  The goals of TPSA are to increase the effectiveness, efficiency and longevity of various pesticide stewardship efforts.

Please go to the TPSA web site for more information. The 2020 Pesticide Stewardship Conference is scheduled for February 4-6 in San Antonio, Texas.

Photographs are available from the TPSA office upon request.