By partnering with Crop Care Hawaii, LLC and Hawaii Farm Bureau Federation, O'ahu RC&D is facilitating on-farm visits for at-risk farmers. to conduct on-farm visits to provide training in Integrated Pest Management (IPM) and pesticide safety. IPM training covers basic agronomy, pest identification, pest control, and crop nutrient management. Pesticide safety training will cover pesticide calibration, pesticide label interpretation, pesticide use recordkeeping, personal protective equipment, decontamination, and pesticide spill, cleanup, and containment. Publications from CTAHR's website on Pesticide Risk Reduction Education are also being used and distributed as needed.  Information is provided in Ilocano, Cambodian, Lao, Thai, Korean, Mandarin, Tongan, and Tagalog to assist immigrant farmers.

Additionally, Worker Protection Standard training is being provided to interested, at-risk farmers. Worker Protection Standard (WPS) training is required by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for all agricultural establishments that have employees who may work in areas of the farm where pesticides are used. However, only persons that have a restricted-use pesticide (RUP) license can train pesticide workers and handlers. Most at-risk farmers do not have an RUP license and therefore are unable to train their employees as mandated by law. Crop Care Hawaii, LLC is approved by HDOA to conduct WPS training for agricultural workers and handlers and normally charges $175 for this service. However, as part of the in-kind contribution to this project, Crop Care Hawaii, LLC is providing this training at no charge.

If you are interested in participating in any of the above trainings, please contact Crop Care Hawaii, LLC at (808) 341-0230 or email.