THE AGRONOMIST


The Agronomist: Think Ahead on How to Respond to Pesticide Opposition Encounters


I WAS SPEAKING WITH A COLLEAGUE THE OTHER DAY AND he related to me a troubling story about a pesticide safety training class that he was conducting in which protesters showed up outside the building and began picketing. My immediate reaction upon hearing this was that my colleague is training applicators to use pesticide products safely and effectively. Why would someone want to protest against that?


This kind of behavior is new


By Bob Mann Senior Director of Regulatory and Technical Affairs


in the realm of pesticide safety education but not at all new in agriculture generally. There have been multiple incidents in which activists have taken issue with whatever kind of farming is going on and have attacked in some way. It seems like this kind of behavior has only gotten bolder lately; I’ll allow you to ruminate on why that might be on your own. In a related incident, a friend who owns a lawn care company told me a story about something that happened to him earlier this spring. He was performing an application at a customer’s house when he heard one of the neighbors catcalling him from across the street. Comments to the effect of “I hope you’re not applying pesticides!” Now, you’re probably wondering how my friend handled this situation. I’ll tell you but let me lead you there first. We work in an industry that has been labeled “controversial” in some circles. In my dictionary,


when someone uses the word “controversial,” they are both informing you about something but trying to convey their disap- proval of it, and they want you to join them in their disapproval. Of course, the truth is that what we do in the lawn and landscape industry enhances the environ- ment through proper mainte- nance of plant material. I have a vast collection of textbooks, research papers, and reports that have been published in the past few decades (the oldest book I have, Turf for Golf Courses, was published in 1923) that support this position. So, when you’ve been accost- ed by someone who is yelling something like, “I hope you’re not applying pesticides!” you have basically two options on how to respond. First, you are working as a contractor on private property performing a perfectly legal ser- vice. Someone across the street or a passerby has no standing in that agreement – in other words, it’s none of their business. If you do not want to engage in conversation, you’re under no obligation to do so. In certain instances (and I


vividly remember every time this happened to me over the years) people will accost you directly. My personal opinion here is that there is absolutely nothing to gain when someone tries to get in your way. Withdraw as quickly and safely as you can, saying as little as humanly possible. Com- municate the incident to your customer as soon as you can to discuss next steps. Sometimes, this means you’ve lost a custom-


8 The Edge //July/August 2024


er just to keep the peace. I’m not saying that’s right, just that it’s an unfortunate reality.


The second option gets


back to what happened to my friend who was the target of the catcalls. He took the opportunity to stop what he was doing and engage in a conversation with the neighbor. He is a seasoned professional, so he was fully con- versant in the features and ben- efits of the services he was pro- viding. After a brief discussion, he diffused the tension in the air by reassuring the neighbor that what he was doing was part of a carefully crafted maintenance plan for his customer’s lawn. He was enormously proud of how he handled the situation, and I completely agree with him. However, some of the folks


working for you might not have achieved the level of expertise necessary to handle an encoun- ter like this in a professional manner. That’s fine, but you need to both give them the tools they need to handle things in the present while training them to engage effectively in the future. What this boils down to is that


you should have a policy and a plan in place for angry public encounters. Communicate the policy and plan to everyone, both in the field and in the office. It’s up to you what the policy and plan actually are, but without them, you’re rudderless and at the mercy of people who do not have your best interests at heart. Once you have a policy, train to that policy with every opportu- nity.


This approach is effective. For


my colleague that was accosted by protestors at his pesticide training session, he was on a college campus. A quick call to the campus police department resulted in the protestors being removed, according to the policy and plan of the university. TE


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44