Confinement site manure applicators should plan to attend a two-hour workshop offered by Iowa State University Extension and Outreach and the Iowa Department of Natural Resources to maintain or renew their confinement site manure applicator certification. The Shelby County workshop will be offered on 2/9/2016 at 1:30 pm in Harlan at 906 6th Street.

“Iowa law requires confinement site manure applicators to attend two hours of continuing education each year of their three-year certification period, or take and pass the exam once every three years,” said Dan Andersen, assistant professor, ISU Ag and Biosystems Engineering and coordinator of the manure applicator certification program. “If applicators fail to attend the two hours of continuing education each year, they will be required to pass a written exam to be eligible to recertify.” Each year nearly 200 confinement site applicators fail to attend training and must pass the remedial exam prior to being eligible to renew their certification for the following year.

The workshop serves as initial certification for those applicators that are not currently certified, recertification for those renewing licenses and as continuing education for those applicators in their second or third year of their license.

The 2016 Confinement site program will include rules for applicators as well as land-application requirements, update on inspections, what you need to know about nitrogen and phosphorus in manure, nitrogen inhibitors, and manure and hydrogen sulfide safety.

Operators must be certified to handle, transport, and apply manure if the confinement livestock operation has more than a 500 animal unit capacity unless the manure is applied by a commercial manure applicator. The certification fee is $100 for a three-year certificate. This fee is paid when applicators initially get certified and then every three years when they re-certify to apply manure.

Confinement site applicators are also required to pay an annual education fee of $25. All fees and application forms must be sent to the Iowa Department of Natural Resources to complete certification requirements. ISU Extension and Outreach will charge 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. Please contact the county extension office to determine which days are scheduled for the manure applicator certification programs.

Applicators now have another option for certification; online certification, which an applicator can take their 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. Applicators are encouraged to complete certification requirements annually prior to March 1 to meet certification deadlines and avoid being assessed a $12.50 late fee for re-certification.

For more information about meeting dates and locations, or to schedule an appointment to attend training, contact the ISU Extension – Shelby County office at 712-755-3104 or visit http://www.agronext.iastate.edu/immag/certification/confinementsitebrochure.pdf to see the 2016 workshop schedule.

(Press Release)