NCGA’s IRMLC Tabbed as Program for Continuing Education Credits (1-20-06)

Certified crop advisers and members of the American Society of Farm Managers and Rural Appraisers (ASFMRA) are now eligible to receive one continuing education credit by completing the National Corn Growers Association’s (NCGA) Insect Resistance Management (IRM) program.

In addition, the American Society of Agronomy ICCA program has granted one continuing education credit in Pest Management when members complete the IRM program.

“This announcement is significant in two ways: one it makes accepting the credits easier for the people that need them; and, two, it gives people one more reason to go to IRM Web site, so they can get the necessary information out to producers,” said Martin Barbre, chairman of NCGA’s Biotechnology Working Group. “Anything we can do that promotes the use of the site is beneficial to producers, NCGA and certified crop advisors.”

The Insect Resistance Management Learning Center (IRMLC) is a Web-based tool developed by the NCGA with the support of the Agricultural Biotech Stewardship Technical Committee, the coalition of the four leading agriculture biotechnology companies, to address the need for standardized, comprehensive training on the principles of insect resistance management (IRM). The IRMLC allows corn growers to access training on several topics, including IRM, Compliance Assurance Program (CAP), Integrated Pest Management (IPM), Corn Borer and Corn Rootworm. Within each section, users of the IRMLC must complete a series of questions to demonstrate their knowledge. Upon satisfactory completion, the user can print out a certificate of completion

Luther Smith, executive director of the Certified Crop Adviser (CCA) Program, said the IRM program adds another tool for CCAs to stay abreast of the latest information in pest management and serving their grower customers.

“This is a great example of NCGA representing its growers, working with industry and telling CCAs what we need to know about IRM, and this learning module will help them become even better at what CCAs do,” he said.