Commercial manure applicators should plan to attend the Commercial Manure Applicator training program scheduled for Tuesday, January 5, 2016, from 9 a.m. to noon. Iowa State University Extension and Outreach in cooperation with the Iowa Department of Natural Resources will conduct the required three-hour training workshop at that time. There is no fee to attend the workshop, but commercial applicators must register by Dec. 30 by contacting the ISU Extension Grundy County office at 319-824-6979.

Commercial manure applicators needing to recertify and those wanting to certify for the first time should attend. The workshop will provide the required three hours of annual training and will cover 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, manure application equipment, and manure and hydrogen sulfide safety.

All currently certified commercial manure applicator licenses will expire on March 1, 2016. Commercial applicators can attend training throughout the year, but if they were previously certified, they should plan to attend training and submit the forms and fees to DNR prior to March 1, 2016, to avoid paying the late fees. Certification fees for commercial manure applicators have not changed for 2016.

If attending the Jan. 5 commercial manure applicator program or watching the three-hour DVD is not convenient, commercial applicators may contact their local DNR field office to schedule an appointment to take the certification exam. In addition to needing an appointment to take the exam, applicators must bring a pencil and photo i.d., and should plan to bring a calculator.

Applicators now have another option, online certification, which an applicator can take their training on-line at DNR MAC eLearning site at elearning-dnr.iowa.gov/. The applicator will need to sign-in and get an A&A account.

For more information about the commercial applicator program contact the ISU Extension Grundy County office at 319-824-6979 or access a list of the training locations at: www.agronext.iastate.edu/immag/certification/macprogrampostcard.pdf