Environmental Respect Awards Steps Up Efforts in Response to Increased Participation

The Environmental Respect Awards has launched its 25th year of honoring stewardship among agricultural retailers with an improved online entry process and a new deadline.

Retailers and past winners will have until March 6, 2015 to submit their Environmental Respect Award Self-Audit. The deadline is earlier to accommodate the significant rise in applications and entrants over the past two years.

“Participation in this program has more than doubled since 2010,” explains Michael DeLuca, president of Meister Media Worldwide and program lead. According to DeLuca, retailers across the U.S. are eager to demonstrate their stewardship and share that information with others.

“Our right to operate as an industry depends on our ability to work safely and effectively,” says DeLuca. “There are good things happening out there. The Environmental Respect Awards is about honoring those in our industry who are doing it right – and sharing that good news with the rest of the world.”

For 24 years, the Environmental Respect Awards, sponsored by DuPont Crop Protection and Meister Media’s CropLife magazine, have been the agricultural industry’s highest recognition for environmental stewardship. Participating entries are examined by a panel of industry experts for excellence in site design, in-plant storage and handling procedures, emergency preparedness, proper application and leadership among customers and employees.

“The bar is higher now that it has ever been,” says DeLuca. “Those who serve in this industry must not only do their work with great care, but communicate their efforts so others understand. There’s a new story to tell and retailers are responding through the Environmental Respect Awards.”

Retailers can enter online at www.environmentalrespect.com. For more information on the Environmental Respect Awards, visit www.environmentalrespect.com or call Sue Betteley, Environmental Respect Awards Entry Coordinator at 440.602.9131.