Author: William Bailey
Planning Unit: Plant and Soil Sciences
Major Program: Tobacco
Outcome: Initial Outcome
Tobacco growers have been required by the tobacco industry to undergo annual training in Good Agricultural Practices (GAP) since 2013. During the winter of 2019, I trained approximately 1800 tobacco growers in western Kentucky and Tennessee. 2019 GAP training topics included management of Pythium root rot in transplant production and angular leafspot in field production. Minimizing cost of production was also emphasized. Additional GAP training sections that I presented included environmental management topics such as stryrofoam tray disposal, irrigation management, and proper pesticide storage practices; as well as a labor management section focusing on effective communication with workers. In addition, GAP trainings were also conducted for tobacco growers in Pennsylvania, where approximately 1000 grrowers were trained in 7 training sessions in conjunction with tobacco extension faculty from Virginia Tech. Under new GAP standards, tobacco workers are also required to undergo annual training on various topics. Susan Fox, ANR agent in Lyon County, coordinated a bilingual training session for tobacco workers in August 2018 for approximately 100 tobacco workers. Worker training topics that I covered at this training included equipment safety, heat stress management, and nicotine poisoning avoidance. This worker training will be conducted again in August 2019.
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