Idaho Operator George Parker has been invited by the EPA to serve on the Pesticide Program Dialogue Committee (PPDC). PPDC is an important federal advisory committee and a forum consisting of diverse pesticide-related stakeholders to provide feedback to the EPA’s Office of Pesticide Programs on various pesticide regulatory, policy and program implementation issues. Stakeholders include academia, state and local regulatory officials, environmental activists, grower groups and crop protection product manufacturers.
Having an NAAA representative on PPDC is critical because the committee addresses many issues of great importance to the industry, including pesticide reregistration, drift mitigation, threatened and endangered species, pollinator protection and the worker protection standard. Membership on PPDC affords NAAA the opportunity to be heard by all other major pesticide-related stakeholders on the safety and accuracy of aerial applications. When environmental groups raise false claims against aerial applications, NAAA is right there at the same table to provide facts and data that refute the frivolous claims.
Parker will be replacing Wisconsin operator and NAAA Government Relations Chairman Damon Reabe. Reabe served on PPDC from 2018 to 2023. Before Reabe, former NAAA and NAAREF President Scott Schertz served on PDDC from 2012 to 2017. NAAA representatives have served on numerous PPDC working groups including web-distributed labeling, pollinator protection, drift, and emerging technologies. With George Parker, also recipient of the 2022 NAAA Agrinaut Award, ready to take over on PPDC, NAAA will continue to lead from the front with recommendations on pesticide policies.