Highlights From 2013 TPSA Annual Conference
February 19, 2013 The Pesticide Stewardship Alliance (TPSA) held their thirteenth annual conference February 5-7, 2013 in Mobile, AL. This year’s focus was sustainability, featuring two global industry leaders as keynote speakers, Fred Bedore, senior manager sustainability for Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. and Scott Griffin, chief sustainability officer, Greif, Inc. These experts shared their experiences on the sustainability culture of their companies and carrying the message and mission to a global economy.
Wal-Mart Store’s Bedore focused on renewable energies, waste to energy conversion, and creating Sustainable Value Networks (SVN) across markets in all countries Wal-Mart serves. Bedore also reinforced the Walmart Foundation’s ongoing hunger relief efforts including donating over 350 million pounds of food in states where children are most in need. Greif’s Griffin focused on living well within the limits of the planet, highlighting that 2.5 billion people are not living well. Greif, an industrial packaging company, formed a partnership with Operation Blessing to manufacture and distribute the first water backpack. WaterWear was distributed in Haiti and Kenya, to improve water safety and transport, and to help eliminate the misuse of plastic containers not suitable for water consumption.
There were 102 participants at the conference representing all crop protection disciplines – manufacturing, research, regulatory, packaging, application and compliance. Participants engaged in open discussions or served as discussion leaders on key topics including mini bulk / IBC container reconditioning and recycling, rinsate management, bee health and pesticide disposal programs.
The conference was led by outgoing president Cary Hamilton, New Mexico Deptarment of Agriculture, and chairman, Ed Cranson, J.R. Simplot, who passed the leadership to new TPSA board chairman Bryan Gran, FarmChem and new president Ples Spradley, University of Arkansas.
Each year TPSA honors members who have championed TPSA causes, this year’s honorees included: Allan Hovis, Ph.D, Bayer CropScience; Brad Bittleston, Interstate Ag Plastics; Carol Somody, Ph.D, Syngenta; Mike Harding, IBC North America and TPSA leaders Cary Hamilton and Ed Cranson.
The 2014 TPSA Conference will be held February 4-6, San Diego, CA. For more information on TPSA, click here.
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