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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.