Iowa’s thousands of commercial manure applicators can now get their required annual training through their home office computer. Gene Tinker, an animal feeding coordinator with the Iowa Department of Natural Resources, says the online version of the training program was made available last week. “We’ve taken the training modules that Iowa State Extension and Outreach uses every year and we’ve put those online,” Tinker says, “so certified commercial applicators who need three hours of training can acquire that through three hours of online training, if they’d prefer.”

Confinement site applicators can also get their required two-hours of training on the website. Tinker says the database has been greatly enhanced to make it convenient for Iowa’s 45-hundred certified manure applicators.  “Now, people can log into that database and determine if I’m a confinement site operator, where am I at in my three-year license? Am I due this year for a renewal?” Tinker says. “They can also pay their fees online. They can even print their own certificate.”

Tinker said the online service has been in the planning stages over the last few years and is now online, just in time for the manure application process to start, as fields are harvested. Learn more at: www.iowadnr.gov/manureapplicator

(Radio Iowa)