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E.Central MN | Yeah, that was one of the take-aways from the U of MN private pesticide session I attended this year. This year they had a couple university people talking about how farmers are now required to check a website (no more than 45 days before they spray) to make sure there are no restrictions in their area for the specific herbicide they are planning to use. It sounded like this was just the beginning of an EPA plan to clamp down on pesticide use. I remember when the pesticide meetings covered things like testing nozzles, doing calculations for the amount of chemical and additives to add according to various label rates, discussing herbicide effectiveness on various major weeds, etc. I'm sure it became very boring for the people who put on the meetings so they skipped a lot of that and added other topics. (Paying the fee and attending the whole meeting renews the license/no test required except for the first time of getting a private pesticide license.) Here the cost of the private pesticide license (good for 3 years) has increased to $100 and they've changed the rules a little bit so farms with more than a certain # of employees now have to get a commercial license. The Minnesota Dept of Ag enforces the rules and does levy hefty fines for things like not having proper safety equipment, improper storage of chemicals, spraying chemicals off label, etc. | |
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Private pesticide license testing is a joke
