AMES, Iowa — Pesticide applicator continuing instruction credits will be offered for commercial applicators in category 1D and private applicators at the Iowa Fruit and Vegetable Growers Association Conference. The conference will be held on Jan. 24-25, 2019 in Ankeny.
The cost to attend the CIC course is $35. Additional details and registration information are available at www.ifvga.org.
peppers on farmers market table.For private applicators who have already been attending CIC classes, the program at the IFVGA meeting will count for recertification. Attendees will receive the same form from the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship they are accustomed to, but this one will also include the category 1D training.
Private applicators must have attended training for the year their certification expires plus the two previous years for IDALS to consider the training valid for recertification. So if a certification expires on Dec. 31, 2018, that person should have attended training sessions in 2016, 2017 and 2018.
Commercial and public applicators must retest in the year their certification expires, then start training the following year for three consecutive years. For example, if a person’s certification expires in 2019, the individual would retest that year and attend trainings in 2020, 2021 and 2022. Applicators who miss a CIC training in one or more years during their three-year recertification cycle are required to renew their certification by exam. CICs cannot be “made-up” if applicators forget to attend a CIC during a year of their certification cycle. Extra CIC trainings attended during one year cannot count for attendance the next year.
Applicators will renew their organization’s commercial applicator license at the same time their applicator certification is renewed. Certifications expire on Dec. 31 of the expiration year.
A public applicator license is required for individuals applying pesticides at school gardens or other nonprofit managed gardens.
— Joe Hannan, Iowa State University Extension and Outreach
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