WSJM December 7, 2005 pesticide recertification training
 This is Al Gaus the Berrien County Extension Educator for Fruit and Ornamentals reporting from the MSU Extension office in Berrien County. One of the necessities of farming is application of pesticides. Whether they are made organically or synthetically, anyone who applies pesticides to farm products needs to be certified. This certification means the taking of a test to verify that you know the material. Then over a three-year time frame, you must either obtain recertification credits through training in seminars and educational programs or you retake the exam. If you are a pesticide applicator and you are up for renewal near the end of this year, you should have received a renewal report from the Michigan Department of Agriculture indicating that you are up for renewal. You were either notified that you have enough now, or you need more.

If you still need one or two more, next week is one of your last chances. Next Thursday the 15th, in the morning there will be an educational meeting from 8:30 to noon where my colleague Dr. Ron Goldy and I will go over extension bulletin E-2195 the Pesticide Applicator Core Training Manual. It will take place at the Berrien County MSU Extension office conference room on Hillandale Rd. There will be two pesticide recertification credits available at this meeting that would be eligible for fulfilling your credits for your recertification.

This training will have both private and commercial core recertification credits available. It will cover the principles of pest management, laws and regulations, pesticides, pesticide labeling and registration, pesticides in the environment, pesticides in human health, and dilutions.

Repeating, there will be an educational meeting Thursday morning December 17th, from 8:30 to noon. It will cover extension bulletin E-2195 Pesticide Applicator Core Training Manual and be worth 2 RUP recertification credits. It will take place at the Berrien County Extension Office in Benton Township.

That is all for today. This is Al Gaus for Michigan State University Extension in Berrien County.