Agricultural Fertilizer Applicator Certification

Agricultural fertilizer applicator certification is now required for farmers who apply fertilizer to more than 50 acres of agricultural production grown primarily for sale. This requirement was signed into law in June, 2014, and also requires certification for commercial agricultural applicators. Farmers who have their fertilizer applied by co-ops or custom applicators are not required to be certified.

Farmers and applicators need to attend a training course offered by Ohio State University Extension to become certified. Those who have a pesticide applicator license need to attend a two-hour fertilizer certification. If an applicator does not have a pesticide license, they will be required to attend a three-hour fertilizer certification.

A three-hour certification program for any applicator who does not have a pesticide license will be offered on March 18, 2016, 8:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. This free meeting, including lunch, will meet the certification requirements for those with and without a pesticide license. Dr. Scott Shearer, Professor and Chair Department of Food, Agricultural and Biological Engineering, College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences, The Ohio State University, will be the keynote luncheon speaker. His topic will be Unmanned Aerial Systems (Drones) in Agriculture. Pre-registration is required and online registration is available at nutrienteducation.osu.edu. You can also register by calling 937.548.5215.

For those holding a pesticide applicator license, a two-hour training will be held on February 15, 2016, in the afternoon of the Darke County pesticide applicator training. To register only for the fertilizer certification only you can register by calling 937.548.5215.

Fertilizer is defined for the regulation as any substance containing nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, or other plant nutrient in a dry or liquid formulation. All application types such as broadcast, side dress, sub-surface, knifing and other are included in the certification requirement. Lime and limestone are not included as fertilizer for the certification and farmers who only use starter fertilizer in their planter boxes are exempted. Applicators who are a Certified Crop Advisor (CCA) or Ohio Certified Livestock Manager are not required to attend the training. The agriculture fertilizer certification is not required for manure applications as these are currently regulated.

Applicators who meet the criteria for the certification must attend training by September 30, 2017. The Ohio Department of Agriculture is the agency issuing the certification for agriculture fertilizer applications. Their website has information regarding the regulation at agri.ohio.gov. For more information about other training sessions or general materials for the agriculture fertilizer certification, visit nutrienteducation.osu.edu or Sam Custer at custer.2@osu.edu.

For more information about OSU Extension, Darke County, visit the Darke County OSU Extension web site at www.darke.osu.edu or the OSU Extension Darke County Facebook page.