Continuing Education Courses
State: Vermont

This course will provide an overview of several areas that are key to pesticide safety and application. We will cover subjects such as types of licenses, Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), labeling and label interpretations, application equipment and techniques, first aid and decontamination procedures, and Integrated Pest Management (IPM) and techniques. It is critical that the fundamentals are taught and reviewed regularly by all applicators and advisers.

This online course covers the management of spray drift to minimize problems. Spray Drift Management (SDM) has been a critical element for Western agriculture for decades. Keeping crop protection chemicals on the crop for which they are intended has been a cornerstone of Western farming not only to protect neighboring crops, but to avoid wasting money by allowing products to drift off the intended target. Spray drift management has taken on greater significance as cities encroach upon rural areas. Every year, increasingly more houses and other types of developments are springing up in prime growing areas, oftentimes alongside fields, orchards or vineyards. This leads to increased concerns about the use of agricultural chemicals and the ways they are applied. This course will review many aspects of spray drift – from practical, hands-on ways to minimize drift, to the regulatory issues surrounding it.

GM alfalfa has been back on the market for about six years, after a detour through the courts that began not long after it was first introduced in 2005 as the fifth glyphosate-resistant crop to be commercialized.