Pesticide requirements explained

We have had several calls and emails from producers asking for information about requirements for pesticide applications. With the addition of new training requirements for many traditionally used pesticides, I thought it would be worthwhile to provide a summarized list to help make things somewhat easier to understand.

For the purposes of this article, I am providing information related to Private Applicators. Private Applicators are individuals who use restricted use pesticides to produce agricultural commodities on property owned or rented by them or their employer; ie. farmers/growers. Restricted use pesticides are not labeled for home gardens. Therefore, a pesticide license is not required, nor available, for home gardeners – it is illegal to use restricted use pesticides labeled for agriculture use on home gardens. Two other categories of applicators are commercial and non-commercial. Both of these categories have different training and license requirements than do Private Applicators and will not be discussed in this article.

There are two steps to the process: certification followed by licensing. (Certification is typically good for five years.) The extension service provides the educational programs required for certification, but does not issue the license.

The Arkansas Department of Agriculture requires farmers and ranchers to be licensed to purchase and apply restricted use pesticides. An individual is not eligible to purchase or apply restricted use pesticides until a license is issued. To provide the education and certification for pesticide use, the extension service has offered Private Applicator Training (PAT) classes for several years. This is the class/training producers, and many farm employees have attended many times over the years.

All of the extension service training for certification or recertification of private applicators costs $20 per person. Completion of this training is required before a person can apply for a license. The license fee is a separate fee that must be paid to the Arkansas Department of Agriculture Plant Industries Division, Pesticide Section in order to receive a Private Applicator license.

There are two options available for people to receive the Private Applicator training.

•Attend one of the classes offered through your county extension serve (this is the only option for people who have never had an Arkansas issued Private Applicator license, or have allowed their license to expired beyond five years).

•Online re-certification. This is a new option for people who have had a Private Applicator license and only need to re-certify. The online re-certification training can be found at https://courses.uaex.edu/course/index.php?categoryid=79.

In addition to Private Applicator training, there are a few more required trainings that should be mentioned.

•Paraquat training: Per EPA regulations, any person who intends to use herbicides containing the active ingredient paraquat must be a certified applicator (ie. have the Private Applicator License described above) and is required to take additional “paraquat training”. “Use” includes pre-application activities involving mixing and loading the pesticide; applying the pesticide; and other pesticide-related activities, including, but not limited to, transporting or storing opened pesticide containers, cleaning equipment, and disposing of excess pesticides, spray mix, equipment wash waters, pesticide containers, and other paraquat containing materials. This training is available on-line at https://campus.extension.org/enrol/index.php?id=1660

•2020 Arkansas Online Training for Enlist One and Enlist Duo Herbicides: Any applicator planning to apply Enlist formulations to labeled crops will need to complete the revised online Enlist training for 2020. This training is required even if the applicator held a certificate in prior seasons, annual renewal is required by the Arkansas Agriculture Department. This training is available on-line at https://courses.uaex.edu/course/index.php?categoryid=79

2020 Arkansas Online Training for Non-Crop Applications of Dicamba: This training is required for all Arkansas commercial, non-commercial, private, and commercial applicator technicians applying dicamba to non-dicamba crops, pasture and rangeland, or for burn-down use. This training is required annually. As the regulations read, this training is required for burn-down applications even if a separate license for in-season use of dicamba is obtained. This training is available online at https://courses.uaex.edu/course/index.php?categoryid=79

2020 In-Crop Use of New Dicamba Formulations In-Person Training: Anyone wanting to apply new dicamba formulations (Engenia, Fexapan, Tavium, or Xtendimax) in crop and before May 26th (the cutoff date for the agricultural use of dicamba in Arkansas) complete company sponsored dicamba training. Applicators can attend any company dicamba training regardless of which new formulation they intend to apply. Applicators should check the following company websites to find an Arkansas training date to meet this requirement. This training is required annually, and is in addition to the Private Applicator license. The Bottom Line: in-crop use of dicamba requires the person applying the product to have the company provided dicamba training as well as being a licensed applicator.

In terms of dicamba training, if a producer plans to use any dicamba formulation for a burndown application and apply new dicamba formulations to tolerant crops in-season, they will need both trainings – the 2020 Arkansas on-line training and the 2020 company sponsored in-crop use training.

If anyone has additional question regarding these, or other required training programs contact the Mississippi County Extension Service at 870-563-0236, or by email at rbenson@uaex.edu. You can also visit us online at https://www.uaex.edu/counties/mississippi/.