SMETHPORT — Penn State Extension offers a series of workshops, conferences, and self-paced education, online and by mail, designed to help Pennsylvania licensed pesticide applicators earn recertification credits.

Pennsylvania has more than 15,000 licensed private pesticide applicators. Certification is required to purchase, apply, or supervise the use of restricted-use pesticides for producing agricultural commodities on land owned or rented by applicators or their employers. Core and private category recertification credits are required every three years to renew their certification.

To that end, Penn State Extension offers a variety of options from in-person workshops, to self-paced workbooks and online courses, including three new online courses: Pesticide Laws and Regulations, which highlights federal Pesticide Laws, regulations, and the agencies that implement them; Pesticide Hazards and First Aid, which provides information on measuring the hazard of a pesticide, how pesticides cause damage to your body, and some first aid responses to exposure; and Pesticide Transportation, Storage, and Security, which covers how to transport and store pesticides, securely and properly store pesticides, and how to create a pesticide security plan.

To accommodate applicators with limited or no internet access, extension offers recertification credits by mail with their newly released correspondence courses, which include workbooks. Extension educators have developed a series of workbooks, all of which feature activities to ensure subject matter understanding.

A written quiz must be completed and returned to Penn State for grading. Topics include adjuvants and pesticides, forage diseases, pesticide recordkeeping, pesticide spill protocol, pollinators and pesticides, pumpkin diseases, soybean diseases, tomato diseases, and fumigation.

In person workshops are being offered locally. An evening meeting from 7-9 p.m. will be held Feb. 22 at the McKean 911 Training Center. Topics will include what’s new in agronomic pest control and managing weeds in forages. Registration is $10. Additional classes offered in adjacent counties and by the Extension’s partners at the McKean County Conservation District.

A complete list of pesticide recertification education options can be found at extension.psu.edu/pestedcredits or at paplants.pa.gov/ For a full list of workbooks and to order, call 1-877-345-0691.