Have questions about pesticide safety or other farm safety topics? Fred Whitford will track down answers to those questions and more with his keen research skills, network of experts and drive to help others.
Although his official title is “clinical engagement professor of botany and plant pathology” and his focus is pesticides, Whitford researches a variety of topics.
“I go across the board on presentations,” Whitford said. “I have a standard set of talks that I do on pesticide safety, but over the years, I’ve gotten into doing presentations on transportation issues, like driving sprayers on the road, tying down a load and keeping a wagon hooked to a tractor.”
All these topics emerged from the conversations Whitford has with people he meets throughout Indiana.
“As an extension person, I go out and talk about a topic,” Whitford said. “Then people in the audience, friends or extension educators will say, ‘Fred, what about this? Who’s covering it?’ I say, ‘Nobody. Is this something I need to look at?’”
For example, questions about what to do when equipment hits powerlines, how to select hoses and tires, and how long chemicals last in storage have all been asked.
When he can’t answer a question, Whitford hands out his business card and asks the person to write down the question, their name and phone number and gets down to work. The first step? Finding the experts who do know the answers. Whitford then contacts the person who originally asked the question to tell them what he found out.
“I’ll call and say, ‘Okay, here is the answer to your question and the reasons why,’” Whitford said. “It allows me to continue to grow and answer the question when it comes up again.”
After Whitford is asked frequently about the same or similar questions, he realizes it’s time to write a publication on the topic.
My goal is to capture what experts know and put it in my own words so that I can understand it. Then, it is professionally edited and designed. While this is in process, I am working in the field trying to put what I’ve learned to use. You can only learn and write so much without getting first-hand experience actually doing the work.
- Fred Whitford
John Obermeyer, a specialist in integrated pest management and long-time colleague of Whitford, has seen Whitford’s research process firsthand. “On location, Fred is in constant motion, whether asking questions or ‘kicking the tires’ to thoroughly understand the subject matter,” Obermeyer said. “It is exhausting!”
The process of tracking down answers has become second nature to Whitford, who has authored over 150 Extension publications in his career at Purdue. What’s most impressive, however, is not how much Whitford has written but how many lives in how many communities his work has helped.
Presentation participants give high praise to Whitford’s talks, and many have shared personal anecdotes of how the information helped them or those they know. Whitford recalled how one of his presentations — about what to do if a vehicle breaks down while crossing railroad tracks — left impressions on many.
“Though Fred’s presentations are given in a light-hearted manner, the potential positive impact he has on human health and the environment is immeasurable,” Obermeyer said.
“We'll have people who write back and say, ‘Fred, because of that, I was able to call that number and stop the train so that we didn't have a collision. Those are the kinds of impacts the presentations have. They're not sexy. They're not anything new. But to those men and women on an individual basis, that becomes personally important to them, which becomes important to me,” Whitford explained.
In the future, Whitford will continue to find new topics to write about, new audiences to speak to and new ways to be a more effective communicator.
“When you boil Extension down, we take information to people,” Whitford said. “It only works if we go out over and over so that people get to know who we are and that we mean well for them. It takes repeatedly being in front of people and getting to know at least their face, shaking their hands, taking questions and being the extension person following up on questions.”
Fred Whitford talks to Larry and Kevin Underwood at Underwood’s farm in Tippecanoe County. Whitford spends a lot of time learning from various experts to prepare for his safety talks.