To say that the Covid-19 pandemic has been a challenge is an understatement. It has drastically reshaped the way we work, shop, entertain, and interact with one another. In Extension, it has forced County Agents to come up with alternate ways to continue delivering educational programming without being able to hold face-to-face meetings. Electronic media, such as Zoom, has begun to be used to get programs to the intended audiences.

The Old Mammoth Cave Area Agriculture Agents have hosted a Southern Kentucky Commercial Pesticide Training in the Logan County Extension Office for the past six years. The original plan had it there again for 2020. Due to the pandemic impact, the agents decided to have the training on a virtual platform.

Many of the presenters for the program had been committed for several months. Agents had to contact them again to make sure that they were comfortable with presenting remotely and to offer help to those who were unfamiliar with the technology. All presenters were willing to try the alternate platform. 

Application of crop protection chemicals and lawn/landscape chemicals is an important industry in South Central Kentucky.  Professional applicators must receive training to stay current on issues, pests, techniques, and safety for the products they apply.  They need to receive 12 hours of continuing education during a three-year cycle to maintain their applicator license.  Three of these hours must address specific topics that pertain to their license category.  Many applicators were having a difficult time finding training opportunities that fit into their work schedule and that were not a long way from their business operation. This became an even larger problem in 2020. The agents organized, secured speakers, coordinated with the KY Dept. of Agriculture, promoted and facilitated the event.  The UK Pesticide Applicator Training Program provides guidance and support for this training.  UK Extension Specialists, a KSU Extension Specialist, a Public Information Officer from the Ky. State Police, WKU Weed Specialist and Turf Professors, and industry professionals presented information during the two-day program. Electronic evaluations were collected after each day of the program.  The information is used to improve the program for the next year. For both day 1 and 2, 97% of respondents indicated that they gain knowledge and 99% said that they would make at least some changes to their normal activities. Among the many positive comments were the following: “I am so glad with COVID-19 that these are being offered. I would like to see it done (this format) every year”; “I thought that you did well putting this together. I liked the online sessions. Much easier than traveling to meetings and is less time consuming. Less cost”; and “I liked the Zoom meeting format. It was more convenient to attend”.

The two-day total number of attendees of 496 was more than 3 times higher than any of the previous Southern Kentucky Commercial Pesticide Trainings.