Prism's Western Farm Press Partners with CAPCA to Provide Online CEU Courses.

NEW YORK -- Prism Business Media's Western Farm Press(R) and the California Association of Pest Control Advisers (CAPCA), which serves the state's $35 billion agricultural economy, today announced a partnership to expand the availability of online continuing education courses for California's nearly 4,000 licensed pest control advisers. The online courses, developed by Western Farm Press, will now be available through CAPCA's Web site at www.capca.com.

In addition, Western Farm Press will become a major sponsor of CAPCA's annual conference, scheduled for October at Anaheim, Calif. The Western Farm Press online continuing education program will also be featured in an article in the pre-conference issue of the organization's official magazine, CAPCA Adviser.

The online courses are developed based on resources and information from experts and specialists at the University of California's Agricultural and Natural Resources Division. Course topics range from pest management in almonds to insecticide and weed resistance management, pesticide handling safety, spray drift management and California's new groundwater protection regulations.

CAPCA tracks all continuing education courses for PCAs and other state of California licensees for the California Environmental Protection Agency's Department of Pesticide Regulation and Certified Crop Advisers. With more than 350 commercial crops, California's agricultural economy is the largest in the nation and the sixth largest in the world.

"This partnership responds to the growing demand for online continuing education opportunities from 80 percent of our organization's members in a recent survey," said Terry Stark, CAPCA executive director. "Our records indicate completions of Western Farm Press' online courses are double that of the next nearest online course provider. The combination of Western Farm Press' course development resources and proven track record of success make this alliance with Western Farm Press clearly a win-win situation for our organizations."

"We're pleased to be working with CAPCA to expand the availability of online continuing education courses via its Web site," added Greg Frey, publisher of Western Farm Press. "Over the past two years, the agricultural world has clearly recognized that the 24/7 convenience of online CEUs allows professionals to attend classes and earn continuing education units, without having to be away from the job."

The courses allow participants to review a series of text sections, followed by questions. All questions must be answered correctly to complete the course. As participants complete courses, they notify an online administrator at Western Farm Press, which reports credit information to Cal-EPA.

Western Farm Press offered its first online continuing education course in 2004. The publication now offers a total of six course and more than 4,000 Farm Press online CEUs have been completed to date. The courses are free, based on sponsorship of Western Farm Press' major advertisers, including Bayer CropScience, Dow AgroSciences, Valent USA, Chemtura and Monsanto. Four of the courses also are accredited for continuing education for consultants licensed by the Arizona Department of Agriculture.

Western Farm Press, serving California and Arizona, is part of Prism's agricultural publications and information group. Other Prism publications providing online CEU courses include the Southwest Farm Press(R), whose courses are certified by the Texas and Oklahoma Departments of Agriculture. In addition, a national American Society of Agronomy CCA course is available on Prism's Corn and Soybean Digest(TM), Farm Industry News(R), Apply(R), Delta Farm Press(R), Southeast Farm Press(R) and Southwest Farm Press Web sites.

Prism Business Media Inc. is a leader in business-to-business communication and information, connecting qualified buyers and sellers in 20 industry sectors. Prism's growing portfolio of market-leading brands spans 70 magazines, 150 e-newsletters, 17 industry trade shows and 500 rich data products. Each month, more than 3.3 million unique visitors utilize Prism Web sites and services. Prism Business Media is owned by U.S. Equity Partners II, an investment fund sponsored by Wasserstein & Co., LP, and by co-investors Highfields Capital Management and Lexington Partners. For additional information on the company and its businesses, visit www.prismb2b.com.