Illinois Fertilizer & Chemical Association
Supply · Service · Stewardship

Applicator Licensing & Dicamba, Paraquat Questions

As the pesticide training and testing season is now underway, with nearly 400 people attending the general standards training yesterday in Champaign, IL, there remains some confusion over the operator/applicator/dicamba/paraquat certifications.  We will try to make it clear below.
 
1.  In 2020, if you apply Xtendimax, Engenia, FeXapan or Tavium for any crop use, including post-emerge on soybean, you must be a certified applicator.  That means you must have a current general standards plus field crop certification from the IL Dept of Ag.  Those who mix and load these four dicamba products are also required by the labels to be certified applicators. 
 
2.  Remember that your field crop certification is linked to your general standards certification, so when you GS expires, your FC certification also expires.  If you have questions about the status of your certification, contact the Illinois Department of Ag at 218.785.2427.  

3.  Even if you are a current certified applicator, you STILL must attend dicamba label training this winter, either via a classroom event, on-line training or a webinar.  In Illinois, all of these training methods will be conducted by the registrants of the dicamba products.  IFCA has a list of current classroom events posted under our "Training" menu on the IFCA website.  Click here to see the current list of dicamba training classes.  The registrants will also make on-line training available later in January, and also offer webinars.  We will post all of those opportunities on the Illinois Dicamba Training section of the IFCA website as they become available.  

4.  Paraquat product labels are also being updated and require those who apply, or who mix and load, to be certified applicators, similar to the dicamba requirement.  You must also complete the required paraquat label training before using any paraquat product in 2020 that has the new product label.  There is only one option for paraquat label training, it is an on-line program available here.  For a more detailed explanation on the new paraquat labels and requirements, click here.  

If you have any questions about these requirements, please contact IFCA.  

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