AMES, Iowa – The Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship (IDALS) Pesticide Bureau has approved the Iowa Fruit and Vegetable Growers Association Conference as a continuing instruction course for fruit and vegetable commercial (Category 1D) and private pesticide applicators. The conference will be held Jan. 25-26, 2018, at the FFA Enrichment Center on the Des Moines Area Community College campus in Ankeny, Iowa.
The fruit and vegetable applicator certification program will only be offered as part of the Iowa Fruit and Vegetable Growers Association’s annual conference. A recorded program will not be available. The fee for this continuing instructional course is $35.
Private applicators
- If you're already attending continuing instruction courses, the program at the IFVGA meeting will count for the CICs. List the 2018 Iowa Fruit and Vegetable Growers Association Conference training on the same IDALS form.
- 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. Example: If certification expiration is Dec. 31, 2019, applicators should attend training in 2017, 2018 and 2019. Instructions on how to complete paperwork will be provided at the training.
- The training season for private applicators is Dec. 1 through the following April 15. Training for 2017 would be Dec. 1, 2017, through April 15, 2018.
Commercial/public applicators
- If certification expired in 2017, retesting should have been done in 2017. Certification will be renewed when the organization’s commercial applicator license is renewed. The new certification will have an expiration date of Dec. 31, 2020. To renew the certification by training, the first required training will be in 2018. Training will also be needed in 2019 and 2020.
- Applicators that are due to retest in 2018 and 2019 must wait until the year after the certification expiration year to switch to attending CICs (but remember, retesting must still be done in the certification expiration year). IFVGA CIC sessions can be attended for the information, but the certificate of attendance will not count toward certification renewal.
- The training season for commercial and public applicators is each calendar year.
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 each year of their certification cycle. Extra CICs cannot be attended during a year and count toward attendance the next year.
Cost to attend the IFVGA Conference is $75 per person per day. Cost to attend the CIC course is $35. This year’s event offers discounts for new members and multi-day registrations. Individuals or farms that have not attended the conference in the past three years can attend for $50 per person per day. The IFVGA is also offering a discount to anyone who registers for and attends both days of the conference.
Online registration and additional conference information is available.