Anybody intending to apply plant protection products through a boom or a knapsack is obliged to register as a professional user. Registering is now a legal requirement for operators.
If you have an existing online Basic Payment Scheme application facility you can register through your Agfood account. If you are not registered online you can fill in the form at www.pcs.agriculture.gov.ie/ Registration necessitates that each individual must have completed a basic training course in pesticide use.
Many farmers completed such courses on a voluntary basis back through the years in agricultural college training and this will suffice as proof of such training, provided proof of participation can be furnished. If no proof exists then you need to do another sprayer operator course.
Cross compliance inspectors will know that you purchased chemicals and you must account for when, where and how these products were applied. This effectively means if you buy enough spray for 10 acres then you need to show what 10 acres it was applied to. If spray was only used on five acres then you need to be able to show the spray that is left over for another five acres if inspected.
All use of chemical must be recorded to show the product, its PCS number, where it was applied and at what rate, the area of the ground sprayed and the amount of water used.
One other element of this new legislation is the provision for the testing of all agri sprayers with a boom width over 3m. All must be tested every five years. A cert and sticker will be provided for each sprayer and this remains with the sprayer even if it is sold. All sprayers requiring testing must have the first test completed before 26 November 2016. This does not apply to knapsack sprayers.
Full containers and empty spray containers must be stored in a safe place where the door can be closed and locked. Irrespective of Basic Payment Scheme requirements, this should be essential on all farms to protect children and animals coming in contact with these potentially dangerous substances.
Why is all this necessary? Under the Sustainable Use Directive (SUD) brought into law in 2009, all EU member states are obliged to implement a range of new requirements relating to pesticides. These relate to the selling of such products, the use of products, protection of water, etc.
To do this, each member state was obliged to:
Produce and introduce a national action plan that was agreeable to the Commission. Have official training for those involved in the chain. Introduce obligatory sprayer testing. These obligations were introduced into Irish law in 2012 and different elements are being introduced on a phased basis. The new legislation called for the registration of all persons providing advice on pesticide use to farmers and this register was established in November 2013. The presence of pesticides in water is a national issue and continuous offences will result in either constraints on the use of that product or it could be banned from use.
The basics of chemical usage
For most chemicals to work the target plants need to be growing actively so that they can take up the chemicals applied. From a farmer’s perspective, active growth provides the green leaves which soak up the active ingredient in the applied spray. Applying sprays in severe drought or very wet weather is not advisable.
Rushes are one example of a weed where the removal, through topping, of old weathered vegetative growth is advised prior to spraying so the spray can be applied to fresh active growth. Users should use all possible management tools available to help control weeds. Total and continued dependence on chemicals has only one possible outcome – nature will win. Good grassland management, pulling up weeds and topping will control a lot of grassland weeds.
Keeping pesticides out of water is essential. There are three main ways that pollution can happen:
Allowing the working spray boom to stray in over a watercourse, thus depositing spray directly into the water. The second is to allow spray drift to be generated as this can enable chemical to move from the field area into water. The third major risk it to have any direct spill or contamination of watercourses by raw chemical. All of these issues are in the control of the professional user (PU). Filling water directly from watercourses is a definite no-no because of the huge risks associated with raw chemical spilling into the river or stream. Careless handling of container foils which allows them to go directly to a watercourse or into a waste or surface water gully could result in significant contamination. Preventing this contamination is the direct responsibility of the PU.
Sprayer washout
For tillage and cereal growers, the increasing number of crops being grown on farms increases the obligation of the PU to ensure thorough sprayer wash-out.
This was not a serious concern for years on most farms where only cereals were cultivated. The return of crops like oilseed rape and beans means that the rinsing and cleaning of sprayers is now very important. There have been numerous examples in recent years of serious crop damage caused by traces of an offending product that may have survived a number of intervening tank fills.
From 26 November last, you cannot legally apply professional use products unless you have a specific PU number allocated to you following registration. Getting a PU number requires specific registration as a professional user through the Department’s SUD (sustainable use directive) web page www.pcs.agriculture.gov.ie. Here you will find the different ways in which to register, plus information on what is required. Remember, it is not enough to have completed the sprayer course – the obligation is to be registered, not to complete a sprayer operator course. Any spray application applied by you before your PU number has been allocated is a breach of the SUD regulations. Just because you have successfully completed a sprayer course does not entitle you to apply pesticides – you must have a PU registration number first.
Anybody intending to apply plant protection products through a boom or a knapsack is obliged to register as a professional user. Registering is now a legal requirement for operators.
If you have an existing online Basic Payment Scheme application facility you can register through your Agfood account. If you are not registered online you can fill in the form at www.pcs.agriculture.gov.ie/ Registration necessitates that each individual must have completed a basic training course in pesticide use.
Many farmers completed such courses on a voluntary basis back through the years in agricultural college training and this will suffice as proof of such training, provided proof of participation can be furnished. If no proof exists then you need to do another sprayer operator course.
Cross compliance inspectors will know that you purchased chemicals and you must account for when, where and how these products were applied. This effectively means if you buy enough spray for 10 acres then you need to show what 10 acres it was applied to. If spray was only used on five acres then you need to be able to show the spray that is left over for another five acres if inspected.
All use of chemical must be recorded to show the product, its PCS number, where it was applied and at what rate, the area of the ground sprayed and the amount of water used.
One other element of this new legislation is the provision for the testing of all agri sprayers with a boom width over 3m. All must be tested every five years. A cert and sticker will be provided for each sprayer and this remains with the sprayer even if it is sold. All sprayers requiring testing must have the first test completed before 26 November 2016. This does not apply to knapsack sprayers.
Full containers and empty spray containers must be stored in a safe place where the door can be closed and locked. Irrespective of Basic Payment Scheme requirements, this should be essential on all farms to protect children and animals coming in contact with these potentially dangerous substances.
Why is all this necessary? Under the Sustainable Use Directive (SUD) brought into law in 2009, all EU member states are obliged to implement a range of new requirements relating to pesticides. These relate to the selling of such products, the use of products, protection of water, etc.
To do this, each member state was obliged to:
Produce and introduce a national action plan that was agreeable to the Commission. Have official training for those involved in the chain. Introduce obligatory sprayer testing. These obligations were introduced into Irish law in 2012 and different elements are being introduced on a phased basis. The new legislation called for the registration of all persons providing advice on pesticide use to farmers and this register was established in November 2013. The presence of pesticides in water is a national issue and continuous offences will result in either constraints on the use of that product or it could be banned from use.
The basics of chemical usage
For most chemicals to work the target plants need to be growing actively so that they can take up the chemicals applied. From a farmer’s perspective, active growth provides the green leaves which soak up the active ingredient in the applied spray. Applying sprays in severe drought or very wet weather is not advisable.
Rushes are one example of a weed where the removal, through topping, of old weathered vegetative growth is advised prior to spraying so the spray can be applied to fresh active growth. Users should use all possible management tools available to help control weeds. Total and continued dependence on chemicals has only one possible outcome – nature will win. Good grassland management, pulling up weeds and topping will control a lot of grassland weeds.
Keeping pesticides out of water is essential. There are three main ways that pollution can happen:
Allowing the working spray boom to stray in over a watercourse, thus depositing spray directly into the water. The second is to allow spray drift to be generated as this can enable chemical to move from the field area into water. The third major risk it to have any direct spill or contamination of watercourses by raw chemical. All of these issues are in the control of the professional user (PU). Filling water directly from watercourses is a definite no-no because of the huge risks associated with raw chemical spilling into the river or stream. Careless handling of container foils which allows them to go directly to a watercourse or into a waste or surface water gully could result in significant contamination. Preventing this contamination is the direct responsibility of the PU.
Sprayer washout
For tillage and cereal growers, the increasing number of crops being grown on farms increases the obligation of the PU to ensure thorough sprayer wash-out.
This was not a serious concern for years on most farms where only cereals were cultivated. The return of crops like oilseed rape and beans means that the rinsing and cleaning of sprayers is now very important. There have been numerous examples in recent years of serious crop damage caused by traces of an offending product that may have survived a number of intervening tank fills.
From 26 November last, you cannot legally apply professional use products unless you have a specific PU number allocated to you following registration. Getting a PU number requires specific registration as a professional user through the Department’s SUD (sustainable use directive) web page www.pcs.agriculture.gov.ie. Here you will find the different ways in which to register, plus information on what is required. Remember, it is not enough to have completed the sprayer course – the obligation is to be registered, not to complete a sprayer operator course. Any spray application applied by you before your PU number has been allocated is a breach of the SUD regulations. Just because you have successfully completed a sprayer course does not entitle you to apply pesticides – you must have a PU registration number first. 
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