What is a Texas Private Pesticide Applicator License? What are the steps to obtain a pesticide license? These are a few questions people may have about the Texas Private Pesticide Applicator’s License. The Texas Department of Agriculture is the regulatory agency in Texas on pesticides.

A private pesticide applicator is someone who uses or supervises the use of restricted-use or state-limited-use pesticides or regulated herbicides to produce an agricultural commodity on:

 Personally owned property;

 Rented property;

 Property owned by his or her employer;

 Property under his or her general control; or

 The property of another person if applied without compensation, other than the trading of personal services between producers of agricultural commodities.

An agricultural commodity is a plant or animal grown for sale, lease, barter, feed or human consumption and animals raised for farm or ranch work. No license is required to apply general-use pesticides to produce agricultural commodities.

To become a private pesticide applicator, complete the required training first. This can be done face-to-face at one of the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service Offices. The next face-to-face course for Smith County is set for 8 a.m. to noon Wednesday, July 8. Study materials are available for purchase by contacting our office. The set of manuals are $40, which includes the Private Applicator General, Laws and Regulations manual, and study handouts that correspond to the course material. These manuals should be obtained ahead of time for review. There will be a $10 training fee the day of the training.

There is also a new online course as well. The online course can be found at the following website: agril iferegister.tamu.edu/index.cfm/productDetails/Produc tID/1730/

This training tool walks potential applicators through 11 topics, including Integrated Pest Management, reading and understanding pesticide labels, pesticide record keeping, recognizing pests and pest damage and an updated pollinator protection module.

At the conclusion of the course, after trainees pass a review exam, they will receive a certificate of completion and an electronic version of the D-1411 which they will then submit to TDA. The cost of the online course is $75, which includes the shipping and handling fees for the training manuals.

Once the training is complete, a training verification form and an application for the Private Pesticide Applicator license will be given to the applicant. Submit the application, copy of the training verification form and license fee of $60 to the Texas Department of Agriculture. The Texas Department of Agriculture will process the application and the applicant will receive a letter with their account number. This account number is used to register and schedule the applicator exam with PSI. PSI is a testing site for these exams.

PSI offers 22 locations around the state for the pesticide exams with a location in Tyler. There is no exam fee for the first attempt to take the exam. A passing grade is 70 percent or higher. PSI will send the scores to the Texas Department of Agriculture. If all license criteria are met, the license will be issued. For more information or to sign up for the July course, contact our office at 903-590-2980.

 

Educational programs of the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service are open to all people without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, disability, genetic information or veteran status. The Texas A&M University System, U.S. Department of Agriculture, and the County Commissioners Courts of Texas Cooperating.