He started with a Master’s degree for which he studied the actual acreage and pesticide uses rather than estimates that had been used for surveys.
He participated in the surveys every five years from 1974 to 2013.
In 1974 he used a code-a-phone system to warn grape growers about potential phyto-toxicity associated with a fungicide. He says the company was angry, but eventually relented and included a warning on its labels.
He said his alert saved the company and growers “a lot of hassle and a lot of money.”
He persuaded the industry to publish “families of chemicals” in groups so farmers could more easily practice rotation to avoid resistance.
He helped develop the grower and dealer pesticides safety training programs, the container waste collection program, helped establish research priorities and the minor use program and the grower own-use pesticides import program.
He has worked for the Ontario government, on federal government projects, for the Canadian Horticultural Council and for the Canadian Federation of Agriculture and has been involved in several international initiatives, mainly to do with minor use programs.
And he writes an informative and entertaining column for The Grower, a newspaper for Ontario fruit and vegetable growers.
He’s going to be missed!
