Joy, Comfort, Hope. Three words the Pastors at my church have been preaching on this month. Been thinking about those impacted with much loss by the recent disasters of tornadoes out east and the wildfires and winds in Kansas. Also thinking about so many who have lost loved ones this year and the difficulty of holidays with those losses. There’s also plenty else going on in the world! All around us, people can sure use some joy, comfort, and hope right now! And thankfully, this time of year reminds us of that for those of us who celebrate Christmas; The Hope of the World came down to earth to be born to die so we can live! This Christmas may we have eyes to see those who are hurting, hands willing to help how we can, and hearts ready to share the hope within us. Have a blessed Christmas!

Pesticide Applicator Certification: Last week, I shared about changes to private pesticide applicator certification. Just to clarify, private applicators are purchasing and using restricted use pesticides on land they farm. Private applicators cannot apply to others’ land and receive a payment as they would then be considered commercial applicators. Private applicators can trade services by applying pesticides to other people’s land as long as money is not exchanged (ex. other party plants a field for the applicator in exchange for the applicator spraying his/her field).

Fumigation is no longer a topic we can teach with private pesticide training. The new law states that those who wish to fumigate need to obtain that specific certification by obtaining study materials and passing an exam (in addition to the private applicator training also required) . The fumigation materials and exam dates are the same ones commercial applicators have to take and are found at https://pested.unl.edu/ under the “commercial/non-commercial” study materials and exam sessions.

Commercial and Non-Commercial applicators are receiving payment to apply pesticides to other people’s ground (for non-commercial applicators, it’s a requirement of their job). To obtain initial certification, one has to purchase study materials for the categories the applicator wishes to apply (ex. ag plant, fumigation, etc.). All commercial and non-commercial initial applicators need to pass an exam that includes General Standards (category 00) and whatever additional certification the person is seeking. Go to https://pested.unl.edu/ and in the right-hand column, it lists certification information for commercial/non-commercial applicators. It has a direct link for the study materials and also a link for the exam sites. For recertification, the most common one for those working in ag industry would be Ag Pest Control-Plant (Category 01). The easiest way to do recertification, and what we recommend, is to attend a Crop Production Clinic. There’s one in York on Jan. 26 but you can find them all listed at https://agronomy.unl.edu/cpc. For recertification in other categories, an exam needs to be taken and passed; the dates are found at the https://pested.unl.edu/ website.

RUP Dicamba Training: Extension is not providing RUP dicamba training. This is being provided by the companies who sell RUP dicamba. Most of these are online and the 2022 trainings may not be on the websites yet. Below are the links for reference. One more thing that NDA wished us to share, any RUP dicamba product on hand that was formulated prior to 2021 is considered off-label as it doesn’t meet the updated EPA approved labels and cannot be used.

• Bayer (XtendiMax): https://www.roundupreadyxtend.com/stewardship/pages/default.aspx
• BASF (Engenia): https://www.engeniaherbicide.com/training.html
• Syngenta (Tavium): https://www.syngenta-us.com/herbicides/tavium-application-stewardship

Chemigation Training is for anyone who applies fertilizer and/or pesticides through an irrigation system. There is no charge for this training, but one does need to pass an exam whether for initial or recertification. Training and the exam can be done either at an in-person training or online for both initial and recertification. You can find the links for both options in the right-hand column of the https://pested.unl.edu/ website.