Commercial manure applicators should plan to attend the Commercial Manure Applicator training program scheduled for Friday, Jan. 4th, 2013, from 9 a.m. 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 Dec. 28 by contacting the ISU Extension – Shelby County office at 712-755-3104.

Commercial manure applicators needing to re-certify and those wanting to certify for the first time should attend. The workshop will provide the required three hours of annual training and will cover applicator rules, manure application rates, manure nutrient movement in soils, emergency action planning, and the importance of good communication and contracts when agitating and pumping manure.

All currently certified commercial manure applicator licenses will expire on March 1, 2013. 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, 2013, to avoid paying the late fees. Certification fees for commercial manure applicators have not changed for 2013. ISU Extension and Outreach will be charging a $10 fee to applicators choosing to view the certification materials on a non-scheduled reshow 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 reshow date at their local county extension office. This fee will not apply to workshops or scheduled reshow dates.

Contact the county extension office to determine which days are scheduled for the manure applicator certification programs. Due to scheduling conflicts, many county extension offices will no longer accept walk-in appointments to watch the training DVDs. If you will be attending the Jan. 4th commercial manure applicator program or watching the three-hour DVD is not convenient, commercial applicators may contact their local DNR field office to schedule an appointment to take the certification exam.

For more information about the commercial applicator program contact the ISU Extension – Shelby County office at 712-755-3104 or access a list of the training locations at: http://www.agronext.iastate.edu/immag/certification/macprogrampostcard.pdf