Environmental Respect Awards Steps Up Efforts in Response to Increased Participation

The Environmental Respect Awards has launched its 27th year of honoring stewardship among agricultural retailers with an improved online entry process and a new deadline.

Retailers will have until March 13, 2017 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 Jim Sulecki, Corporate Content Director, Meister Media Worldwide and program lead. According to Sulecki, retailers across the U.S. and Canada 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 Sulecki. "There are good things happening out there. The Environmental Respect Awards are about honoring those in our industry who are doing it right — and sharing that good news with the rest of the world."

For 26 years, the Environmental Respect Awards, sponsored by DuPont Crop Protection and Meister Media's CropLife® and AgriBusiness Global® magazines, have been the agricultural industry's highest recognition for environmental stewardship. Participating entries are examined by an independent 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 Sulecki. "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 EnvironmentalRespect.com. For questions on how to enter, call Sue Betteley, Environmental Respect Awards Entry Coordinator at 440.602.9131.