Confinement site manure applicators should plan to attend a two-hour workshop offered by Iowa State University Extension and Outreach to maintain or renew their confinement site manure applicator certification. The Grundy / Blackhawk county workshop will be offered on February 23, 2016 at 1:30 p.m. at the Dike Public Library, 133 E Elder 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.

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 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. All fees and application forms must be sent to the Iowa Department of Natural Resources to complete certification requirements.

Applicators now have another option for certification; 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.