Paper presented at the "Meeting on Environmental Legislation and its Effects on Weed Science," 1988 January 18-20; Tulsa, OK; AGRICOLA IND 89009907., Georgia peanut farmers worried about the EPA's decision to suspend dinoseb, a herbicide that farmers used for the past 40 years. Farmers were critical of a task force's recommendation to ask for an emergency exemption -- Section 18 -- for Gramoxone, instead of fighting for dinoseb. The paper presents a case study of how weed specialists with the Georgia Extension Service worked with the state's news organizations through Extension Service editors to produce stories about their decision, including before and after stories with a farmer who feared that his peanuts were killed by Gramoxone. The case points out how a close working relationship between weed specialists and news editors can enhance educational efforts on a sensitive issue.
