Western Growers (WG) is working to assemble a group of pest control and crop advisors to assist in the prioritization, development and implementation of WG activities to advance and defend crop protection chemistries important to fruit, nut and vegetable growers in California, Arizona and Colorado. 

The initiative is being led by the WG Science and Tech and Government Affairs offices.

“Crop protection materials undergo constant review by regulators and are consistently under attack by anti-pesticide activists” says Hank Giclas, WG Senior Vice President, Strategic Planning, Science & Technology. “We need to have access to the industry experts who use these materials in the field so that we can, with real world use and benefits information, bolster our arguments to preserve existing products and bring forward new products for growers.” 

Giclas and Sacher are seeking volunteers to become part of a standing group of subject matter experts that can be contacted by WG during regulatory reviews and other discussions that shape the availability and use of key crop protection tools. Currently, WG is working to defend chlorpyrifos and the pyrethroid class of chemistry. 

We are in urgent need of information on critical uses and benefits for these compounds, and we will need to organize the development of comments from across WG membership if we are to preserve access and flexibility of use of these materials. 

If you would be willing to add your name to a list of experts that WG can call to develop information and help defend and protect the limited crop protection tools available to the specialty crop industry please drop a short note with your contact information to Hank Giclas ([email protected]), Ben Sacher ([email protected]) or Matthew Allen ([email protected]).