NPSEC News – September 6th, 2018

eXtension Foundation and NPSEC Pesticide Safety Education Funds Management Program (PSEFMP) Funding Opportunity

The eXtension Foundation (EF) has announced a funding opportunity for Land Grant University Pesticide Safety Education Programs (PSEP) for 2019. This opportunity is made available through a cooperative agreement (#X8-83698001) with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to establish and administer a national sub-award program in support of pesticide applicator education, and training for certified applicators of restricted used pesticides. The National Pesticide Safety Education Center (NPSEC) will continue to collaborate with EF to lead the professional development part of the project and to assist PSEPs in enhancing some of the educational products they develop as part of the expectations attached to the funding. Read the full story here.

Pesticide Safety Education Funds Management Program (PSEFMP) Success Story

eXtension received this grant from the EPA to establish and administer a national sub-award program in support of pesticide applicator education and training for certified applicators of restricted use pesticides. eXtension was invited in early 2017 to apply for this grant by pesticide safety education coordinators and the National Pesticide Safety Education Center (NPSEC). The goal of NPSEC is to support Extension Pesticide Safety Education Programs (PSEP) across the nation. Forty-six PSEPs are benefitting from this grant with projects aimed at improving the quality of pesticide applicator training.

Katie Moore, an Extension Associate for Pesticide Safety Education saw a need to improve the quality of pesticide applicator training material and classes. Prior to her project, pesticide applicators in South Carolina were required to complete a 7-hour video-based course for training. Through the Pesticide Safety Education Funds Management Program (PSEFMP) grant, Katie created a new training program that would be delivered by Extension educators to improve the overall educational quality, and reduced the training time to 3-hours, saving thousands of man-hours for applicators in South Carolina, and increasing overall compliance. The current passing rate for this training is 85%.

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