Commercial manure applicators should plan to attend the commercial manure applicator training program scheduled for Thursday, Jan. 4, 2018, from 9 am to noon.
Iowa State University Extension and Outreach in cooperation with the Iowa Department of Natural Resources will conduct the required three-hour training workshop at that time. There is no fee to attend the workshop, but commercial applicators must register by contacting the ISU Extension and Outreach Greene County office at 515-386-2138.
Commercial manure applicators who need to recertify and those who want to certify for the first time should attend. The workshop will provide the required three hours of annual training and will cover rules for applicators as well as land-application requirements, snow/frozen ground regulations, spill response, compaction, biosecurity, manure application uniformity updates, team communication, manure and hydrogen sulfide safety, and evaluation review.
All currently certified commercial manure applicator licenses will expire on March 1, 2018. Commercial applicators can attend training throughout the year, but if they were previously certified, they should plan to attend training and submit the forms and fees to DNR prior to March 1 to avoid paying the late fees. Certification fees for commercial manure applicators have not changed for 2018.
ISU Extension and Outreach will charge a $10 fee to applicators choosing to view the certification materials on a non-scheduled re-show day at the county office. For this reason, all applicators are encouraged to attend the workshops or to plan to view training materials on the scheduled re-show date at their local county Extension office. The fee will not apply to workshops or scheduled re-show dates.
Applicators have another option, online certification. An applicator can take his or her training on-line at DNR MAC eLearning site at https://elearning-dnr.iowa.gov/. The applicator will need to sign-in and get an A&A account.
Commercial manure applicators hauling, handling or land-applying primarily dry or solid manure are encouraged to attend the dry manure applicator workshops scheduled for February 2018. Dates and locations can be found in the link below.
Persons who want more information about the commercial applicator program can contact the ISU Extension and Outreach Greene County office at 515-386-2138, email xgreene@iastate.edu, visit the office at 104 W. Washington St in Jefferson, or access a list of the training locations at: http://www.agronext.iastate.edu/immag/certification/macprogrampostcard.pdf
