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As information moves more easily in todays society with internet, newspapers, television, etc. many people believe cancer rates in humans are on the rise regardless of the type or cancer. This web cast seminar looks at the safety of pesticides and their impact on the human health. The basics of pesticides will be examined and compared to other substances we consume or use everyday. Also discussed are ways an applicator can reduce exposure to pesticides.

This module will provide an overview of IPM, discuss the botanical characteristics of these 3 weeds, their method of spread, their economic impact and the application of IPM techniques and strategies to control these 3 noxious weeds in agricultural, industrial and urban environments.

Small sprayers need to be calibrated too. Many misapplications have been made with small sprayers as anyone can purchase these sprayers and most people do not know how to calibrate them properly. Join Tim as he shows you his approach on how to calibrate these sprayers so your pesticide application can be done accurately and safely.

Nozzle manufacturers over the last few years have really stepped up to the plate when it comes to developing drift reducing nozzles. As pesticide applicators, we are always concerned about spray drift to off target locations, thus many applicators have chosen drift reduction nozzles to reduce the potential for spray drift. Unfortunately spray coverage may not be adequate for some pesticides with drift reduction nozzles and the pesticide may not be doing as good a job as we have hoped for. Join Tim as he looks at the topic of balancing spray drift vs. spray coverage.

Most things we do each day pose a risk to us, whether that is driving your vehicle to work or applying a pesticide. The public tends to focus on the risks of pesticides and not the benefits. Join Tim as he looks at the huge benefits that we receive by using pesticides in our world. You will be surprised when you see all the primary and secondary benefits of the pesticide industry. It is time to look at and promote the benefits of pesticide in the modern world.

Rinsate water when cleaning your sprayer is a huge concern for pesticide applicators. We need to clean our sprayers, yet how to we dispose of the rinsate in an environmentally friendly way. Join Tom Wolf as he talks about a new alternative when dealing with rinsate, Biobeds.

This webinar looks at the current status of biological weed control agents in Canada. Biological control has had some success over the years but with increasing pressure on chemical pesticide use, it is important to keep updated on what is happening with biological control agents. Join Tim as he reviews the current status of biological weed control agents and what the future looks like.

Join Vivianne Servant as she reviews the following documents and presents the findings in this informative web cast. - Alberta Biomonitoring Program (2005): Surveys and blood samples taken to establish the magnitude of women's exposure to environmental contaminants during pregnancy in all regions of Alberta - Canadian Health Measures Survey (2007-2009): study to provide benchmark data (surveys, blood and urine tests) of Canadians across Canada on indicators of environmental exposures - Agricultural Health Study (1993-2013): Tracking health and pesticide exposure of 89,000 farmers and commercial applicators and their spouses in the U.S.

One of the enduring challenges in spraying is providing good canopy coverage for late season spraying of taller canopies, either for desiccation or fungicide. The use of double nozzles, boom height, water volumes, and travel speed are explored for improving pesticide performance. New double nozzle technologies available from a number of manufacturers are introduced and discussed.

An overview of how a pesticide is taken from the lab to the market. Pesticide development is a long, expensive process and must jump many hurdles in order to make it to market. Join Tim Garner as he looks at the steps in developing a pesticide. Realize how the registration process ensures that the public, applicator and the environment are protected with the testing that is required.

This presentation will provide information on the public’s knowledge and misinformation with respect to pesticides and pesticide use in Canada as determined by ongoing surveys conducted by Health Canada’s Pest Management Regulatory Agency.  Knowing the key areas where the public may lack key information or have misinformation can help applicators anticipate questions or concerns and be prepared to have effective discussions. Information on the benefits of pesticide use in specific applicator classes and answers to concerns the public may have regarding pesticide use will be discussed. In addition, approaches to starting and maintaining effective conversations will also be discussed.

The Department of Environment has monitored the occurrence of pesticides in surface water and drinking water for a number of years at many sites throughout Alberta. This presentation discusses the results of this monitoring and the implications this has on the quality of the water in Alberta. In addition, limited monitoring on pesticide residues in rainwater and air are discussed.

It is important to understand the hazards associated with handling pesticides. Many things that are common sense to an experienced applicator are overlooked when training new applicators. This seminar will look at developing a hazard assessment and rating the risks associated with handling pesticides.

This topic integrates a number of important aspects of spraying at a range of travel speeds in the same field, including nozzle selection, effect of pressure on pattern uniformity and spray quality, and pesticide performance with various spray qualities. There will be some overlap with topic #1, but this talk emphasizes practical issues encountered with a modern high-clearance sprayer.

As more pressure is put on pesticide usage, applicators must look to an IPM program when dealing with unwanted vegetation. We may need to divide areas into different categories as far as what is acceptable and not acceptable. We need to be able to count or measure plant populations in order to decide the solution required. Monitoring of vegetation will be discussed. Thresholds will be defined and discussed. A look at various control measures will be examined included guidelines for selecting appropriate herbicides.

Definition of IPM and a discussion on the principles of IPM: Pest identification; Monitoring; Threshold levels; Control measures and Evaluation. An example will be used to illustrate the principles.

Spray drift is an applicator's worst nightmare. It is a leading cause of complaints for sprayer applicators. In the last few years, nozzle manufactures have developed different types of nozzles to help reduce drift. This web cast seminar looks at different types of nozzles and how they work. Also examined are other ways to reduce drift besides nozzle selection.

Key regulatory changes and what they mean and public impact ; Pesticide Safety and reporting issues. Species at Risk Regulation

This presentation identifies animal and plant species that are endangered and threatened in Canada. It also identifies the habitats of those species in various provinces in Canada. It also discusses a number of reasons (e.g. regulatory, risk of extinction, identification on pesticide labels, etc.) why it is important for pesticide applicators to do their part in protecting endangered and threatened species. Lastly, it will identify approaches pesticide applicators can use in their application practices to protect these species.

It is part of every applicator's job to complete their pesticide applicator records when applying pesticides. Join Tim as he reviews what is required, how long they must be kept and ways you may be able to simplify them. Health Canada's Buffer Zone calculator is discussed and used to show applicators other tools available that may affect their applications near open bodies of water.

Pesticide resistance is increasing throughout the world. What can we do as applicators to prevent this or slow it down. The scope of resistance is discussed as well as definitions. The different types of resistance are discussed and applicators will realize they have a high level of control on some types of resistance and lower levels of control on others. Ways applicators can reduce pesticide resistance is presented.

Pesticide storage is an important aspect of being a pesticide applicator. It is important to store your pesticides correctly. This web cast reviews some of the basic concepts to follow when storing pesticides. Many of the rules and regulations of pesticide storage are easy to compile with such as signage and organization. Take this one hour web cast to update your knowledge on pesticide storage so that you store your pesticides properly and safely.

Alberta water strategy; pesticide use in Alberta; Agronomic and environmental considerations; Pesticides characteristics and fate in the environment.

Plants and animals are completely different-or are they that different. Just because plants cannot run away, fight or scream, it does not mean they cannot defend themselves. They can communicate with each other or others such as pollinators or even predators of their enemies. Plants interact with each other and have defense systems. Join Tim as he looks at the world of plants and how we may be able to use their defense systems in IPM programs now and in the future. References used to develop this webinar: GG McNickle, CC St. Clair and JF Cahill, Jr.. "Focusing the metaphor: Plant root foraging behaviour." Trends in Ecology and Evolution24 (2009): 419-426. A. Weinhold, I. T. Baldwin: Trichome-derived O-acyl sugars are a first meal for caterpillars that tags them for predation. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA, Early Edition, 25.-29. April 2011, DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1101306108 Runyon, J.B., M.C. Mescher, and C.M. De Moraes. 2010. Plant defenses against parasitic plants show similarities to those induced by herbivores and pathogens. Plant Signaling & Behavior 8(5):929-931 Simard, S.W. (2012) Mycorrhizal networks and seedling establishment in Douglas-fir forests Biocomplexity of Plant–Fungal Interactions, First Edition. Edited by Darlene Southworth. John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Chapter 4, pages 85-107. Activating the Plant’s Defenses: Karl Danneberger, Ph.D. Ohio University - http://www.unisci.com/stories/20022/0627023.htm -http://www.cbc.ca/natureofthings -http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plant_defense_againstherbivory

As with every occupation, it is important to act professionally. As people applying pesticides in a world where pesticides are under the microscope, it is critical that we act professional in all aspects of pesticide application. From purchasing to transporting to application through to cleanup and disposal plus dealing with bystanders, it is important that we handle every aspect professionally. Not only is it important for us, the pesticide applicator, but also everyone that works for us.

Many of us have applied pesticides for many years but there are many aspects of a pesticide applicator that we do very infrequently and thus do not know all the answers. Join Tim as he goes through some aspects of regulations in a question and answer form to help remind us of some things we probably knew when we took the exam but now could use some refreshing. This web cast is very interactive as you will be asked to answer questions throughout the session using the chat box. All you need is your computer screen, speakers to hear and your keyboard to answer. Let's have some fun and discussion.

This webinar takes IPM to the next level. New systems are being researched on putting together IPM techniques as a recipe whereas you may be able to reduce, eliminate or apply chemical pesticides less often. The PMRA system for qualifying reduced risk pesticides is examined. Two other rating systems are looked at in this webinar: one study out of Quebec called the Quebec Pesticide Risk Indicator and another from the USA called the Environmental Impact Quotient. Methods are discussed on how applicators can lower their environmental impact by cultural, biological and choosing pesticides with lower environmental impact. References used for this webinar: The PMRA Initiative for Reduced Risk Pesticides; Health Canada Quebec Pesticide Risk Indicator: Samuel, O., Dion, S., St-Laurent, L., April, M. A Method to Measure the Environmental Impact of Pesticides: J. Kovach*, C. Petzoldt, J. Degni**, and J. Tette, IPM Program, Cornell University, New York State Agricultural Experiment Station Geneva, New York 14456 Reducing Chemical Use on Golf Course Turf-Redefining IPM: Jennifer Grant Ph.D., Tyler McGonigal, Robert Portmess, Frank S. Rossi, Ph.D.

Rinsate from cleaning your sprayer can be a huge issue for many applicators as what to do with it. This seminar looks at new pesticide technology where less rinsing is required plus the options of handling rinsate of your cleaned sprayers. Applicators from previous decades did not realize the impact of pesticide rinsate had on the environment, but now applicators realize the impact and must deal with it.

The world of soil microorganisms is an untapped world for all kinds of potential uses in the future with pesticide degradation being one of them. Many pesticides require residual qualities in order to do their job but there is a fine balance between being residual and causing environmental damage. This web cast seminar looks at factors in the soil that influence pesticide residues and degradation and look at ways in which we as pesticide applicators can help to assist pesticide degradation before it leaches into the subsoil or groundwater

This one hour seminar covers the basics of calibration from nozzle selection to basic calibration procedures. There are a number of ways to calibrate a sprayer but Tim likes one in particular. He will take you step by step through his method to ensure accurate sprayer calibration.

Sprayers are actually fairly simple machines meant to apply pesticide accurately and evenly. Many applicators are reluctant to work or overhaul a sprayer as they may not work on it on a daily basis. Many mechanics are not taught about sprayers in their training and thus they are reluctant to work on them. Tim Garner will go over some simple sprayer circuits that sprayers follow depending on types of pumps. Let Tim show you that sprayers are uncomplicated and fairly easy to work with.

Unfortunately, we are seeing minute amounts of pesticides in our surface waters. One of the herbicides, 2,4-D is showing up in surface waters due to its large usage in the area of weed control. Is it having a detrimental effect on amphibians and other wildlife in an aquatic environment. This web cast seminar looks at some of the latest research on the sublethal effects of 2,4-D on amphibians and wildlife.

Technology is continually changing and GPS units are becoming part of our everyday life. GPS and weather stations can also play a big role in pest management and pesticide application. This web cast seminar looks at how pesticide applicators can use GPS and weather stations both in pest management and in pesticide applications.

As Pesticide Applicators, we are continually exposed to pesticides. Many of our pesticides may either an immediate serious effect if we contact it or may have a long term effect as a chronic exposure. With today's personal protective equipment, it is easy to limit your exposure to pesticides during mixing and loading, application and clean-up. Choosing the correct and appropriate equipment is important. This seminar looks at the equipment available, materials and features of safety equipment. Laundering of protective equipment is also discussed.

This presentation will discuss Alberta’s river water quality ratings compared to the ratings in Canada. It will discuss various factors (e.g. water solubility, half-life, ground ubiquity score, binding affinity, etc.) that may contribute to pesticide residues in water. It will also discuss what applicators can do to reduce the potential of pesticides entering into water.