Pesticide application safety

Commercial pesticide application has many risks; both to the public and to the applicator. Legal risks are also a major concern to enterprises engaged in applying control products as well as environmental concerns with improperly used or over used pesticides.

Holding a commercial applicator's license requires continuing education or retesting on a three year cycle. Although CEUs can be obtained from attending numerous trainings across the state, travel costs can add up impacting ever tightening budgets.

Based on requests from local license holders and recommendations from the Henderson County Horticultural Council, a yearly training should be held to provide the necessary training for commercial applicators in Henderson County as well as surrounding counties.

Utilizing resources from the Kentucky Department of Agriculture, the University of Kentucky, and the Henderson County Extension Office, we were able to host the training for the sixth year. Attendance has increased every year including attendees from 6 counties in 2021. Training session topics include disease and insect identification, IPM best management practices, reading a label, PPE proper use, and many others. 

Following a conversation with local utility managers, in 2017, the training was split into concurrent sessions to accommodate Cat. 8- right of way applicators.  In 2021, we trained 12 applicators from 3 separate utility companies.  

Several times throughout the year, personal conversations with our local parks department, municipal utility office, and local sports field managers indicated the need for the training is extremely beneficial saving all involved entities significant travel costs for their license holders. Post class recommendations have encouraged incorporation more "in the field" and "hands on" training. In 2017, the program incorporated some in the field training for the first time. Covid cancelled the program in 2020, however, virtual options were mailed to all previous attendees to ensure they had opportunities to attain their CCH’s needed to retain their license.

Early in 2022, Extension worked with a small group of managers to form a group of applicators that will aid the Extension agent in planning the annual training.  

Intermediate and long terms results are expected to include better trained applicators and lower pesticide incidence rates in the area and more hands on training.