When Jim Hazen went to Olympia this legislative session to represent the tree fruit growers of Washington State, he had the solution even before the issues of cholinesterase monitoring, air monitoring for pesticides, or pesticide spray notification came up. Hazen, executive director of the Washington State Horticultural Association, is the manager of a new project to help orchardists transition to new technologies for insect pest management, a project that is particularly timely since the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced that the old standby Guthion (azinphos-methyl) will be phased out by 2012. The three-year project, costing $1.9 million dollars, was developed […]