NORTH AMERICAN WEED FREE FORAGE COMMITTEE

REPORT TO NAWMA ANNUAL MEETING – AUGUST 10, 2000

A total of 12 states/provinces are operating weed free forage programs at present. MOU’s have been distributed to 7 through representatives who attended the Committee meeting on August 8/2000. Illinois has already signed an MOU, and the remaining five will be mailed out by Adrianne Peterson for signatures. She will also request samples of their identification tags/twine, their forms, weed lists and brochures.

Farm & Ranch Network is working on a pilot project with Kansas and Nebraska as a clearing house for WFF inspections, plus marketing of weed free hay. They are setting up an interactive website that will be available to everyone at www.agnet.net. A weed free forage finder, list of producers, product information and contact information will all be there. There will be no cost to producers and Farm and Ranch encourage the use of this site and service to everyone across the country and in Canada. They expect their revenue to be derived from marketing the weed free forage. Bob Parsons will attempt to work with Farm and Ranch to link sites.

Weed Free Forage brochures are planned to be updated by Christmas. The official name change and several minor alterations are necessary. Riley Walters will follow up with the Forest Service on their offer to assist in advertising the program.

It was reported that in California there has been some opposition to paying the premium price weed free hay brings when horseback riders are required to use weed free hay on forestry lands. Rita Beard reported that it would be helpful to have someone from NAWMA speak at a conference next August in Sacramento California to discuss the effectiveness of weed prevention under this program. Roy Reichenbach would be available to address the conference on our behalf.

An evaluation of the effectiveness of the Weed Free Forage program will be initiated by Tim Dietzler over the next 6 months. Such an evaluation may be helpful in addressing concerns as noted above.

Train the Trainer sessions for inspectors under the Weed Free Forage program have not been offered at the last two annual conferences, but will be scheduled in for 2001 in Colorado Springs.

Respectfully submitted,

Tim Dietzler,

Calary, Alberta