“INFORMATION AND EDUCATION.—The (EPA) Administrator shall, in cooperation with the Secretary of Agriculture, use the services of the cooperative State extension services to inform and educate pesticide users about accepted uses and other regulations made under this Act.” FIFRA Section 23(2)(c)

The National Stakeholder Team for PSEP Funding was formed in October 2012 to strengthen and support the 50 state Land-Grant University Pesticide Safety Education Programs, after EPA reduced funding to the programs to $500K/year.

The founding objectives of the National Stakeholder Team are to:

• Establish a permanent source of federal funding for PSEP in every state and territory

• Determine the potential for additional support through state and territory pesticide product registration fees, enforcement fines and more

• Explore ways for stakeholders to provide unrestricted gifts, grants and endowments to support PSEP

• Promote awareness of PSEP and the importance of program funding

Funds for some of the team’s efforts were solicited by Team members from 36 registrants (8 contributed) and the $3MM+ raised was put under the management of 10 members of the Team and named the PSEP Improvement and Modernization Initiative 2014-16 (‘PSEP-IMI’). Over $1.8MM of these funds was committed by PSEP-IMI to strengthen 25 of the most at-risk Pesticide Safety Education Programs (‘Goal 1’).

The major project of the National Stakeholder Team to-date has been Goal 1. Many members of the team (50-70) have been involved in implementation or support of Goal 1 each year since 2014. Although financial support of Goal 1 via PSEP-IMI was available for up to 3 years, the need for other types of National Stakeholder Team support for strengthening PSEPs is expected to continue (and is inherent in the goals and current projects of the team). Many beyond the Team (state regulatory agencies, university administrators, and state stakeholder teams) are also working on Goal 1.

Members - National Stakeholder Team 11-15-20

2016-2020 Workgroup Members 11-9-20

This website contains:

• Team statements and outcomes to date

• Minutes of full team meetings and various workgroup meetings

• Press releases and presentations to external groups

• Surveys and statistics

• Information relevant to supporting PSEP

• Educational resource development for the PSEP-IMI website

• A section for the upcoming National Pesticide Safety Education Month – February 2019 (which will contain official sponsors supporting PSEP, events, links, core principles of safe use, a toolbox of ideas for participants, etc.)

To Join the National Stakeholder Team, contact any Steering Committee member:

Jim Burnette james.burnette@ncagr.gov

Ronda Hirnyck rhirnyck@uidaho.edu

Gene Merkl gm53@msstate.edu

Carol Somody carol.somody@syngenta.com

Tim Drake tdrake@clemson.edu