By Julie Tomascik
Associate Editor

Time is a limited commodity, and farmers could lose more of it with proposed changes by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

After more than 40 years of current training and certification standards, the federal agency is recommending stronger standards for those who apply restricted use pesticides (RUPs).

The goal, according to the EPA, is to ensure a consistent level of protection across all states and reduce misapplication of RUPs.

But Texas has had a robust training program in place for more than 20 years, said Texas Farm Bureau (TFB) Associate Director of Commodity and Regulatory Activities Jay Bragg.

In order to purchase or apply RUPs, Texans are required by law to pass a test to receive their private and/or commercial pesticide applicator license. To maintain it, they must obtain a required number of continuing education units (CEUs) every five years.

EPA’s proposed rule would change that, increasing the number of CEUs required to maintain the license and shortening the recertification timeframe.

Under the new rule, private applicators would be responsible for six general CEUs and three additional CEUs for each application category every three years.

One CEU is 50 minutes of active training time.

“That equates to more hours of continuing education for Texas private pesticide applicators,” said Brant Wilbourn, TFB associate director of Commodity and Regulatory Activities.

If a private applicator wants to stay certified in 10 categories, they would be mandated to receive 36 CEUs over a period of three years compared to 15 CEUs over five years under the current program.

Commercial applicator standards would increase to six general CEUs and six CEUs per applicator category.

That means a commercial applicator with 10 categories would be required to have 66 CEUs, Wilbourn said.

But there’s one other caveat.

“You have to have half of the CEUs 18 months prior to the expiration of your license,” Bragg said.

And the increased training comes at a cost.

“AgriLife Extension estimates up to $8 per CEU,” Bragg said.

But the real cost is time and lost productivity in an already busy schedule.

Requiring category specific trainings will also put a strain on AgriLife Extension. Missing a local training could mean traveling to the next county or several counties over to cover the same material.

“Some training is necessary. However, what’s been proposed is excessive,” Bragg said. “For the past two decades, Texas has been a leader in pesticide training and safety.”

The proposed changes also outline a nationwide minimum age requirement for the first time. All persons using RUPs must be at least 18 years old.

“Time spent in a classroom is time away from the farm. Cumulatively, this regulation may cost Texas farmers and ranchers more than $10 million annually,” Bragg said.

EPA is seeking public comments on the proposed rule until Nov. 23.