There are reports that large numbers of Northern Ireland farmers have been duped into completing unapproved training courses on pesticide application.
With the grandfather rights exemption in the North now gone, anyone who wants to use plant protection products must have an approved certificate of competence. In NI, an assessment must be completed by someone approved either by City & Guilds or Lantra.
Training to apply pesticides using a boom sprayer (PA1 and PA2) normally takes up to 12 hours, with a subsequent assessment independent of the training taking two-and-a-half to three-and-a-half hours.
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However, farmers report that they have attended courses where they have been able to get all the training and assessment squeezed into one night. The cost is £150 (or £180 if you want a VAT receipt, you might not). It is understood that several hundred farmers have now attended this training, and handed over course fees running into the tens of thousands.
The problem is that the identity card given to the farmers at the end of the process is invalid, as the course provider is not approved by either City & Guilds or Lantra to assess spraying competence. The advice is to ask for proof of qualifications before handing over money. Sometimes if something seems too good to be true, it probably is.
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There are reports that large numbers of Northern Ireland farmers have been duped into completing unapproved training courses on pesticide application.
With the grandfather rights exemption in the North now gone, anyone who wants to use plant protection products must have an approved certificate of competence. In NI, an assessment must be completed by someone approved either by City & Guilds or Lantra.
Training to apply pesticides using a boom sprayer (PA1 and PA2) normally takes up to 12 hours, with a subsequent assessment independent of the training taking two-and-a-half to three-and-a-half hours.
However, farmers report that they have attended courses where they have been able to get all the training and assessment squeezed into one night. The cost is £150 (or £180 if you want a VAT receipt, you might not). It is understood that several hundred farmers have now attended this training, and handed over course fees running into the tens of thousands.
The problem is that the identity card given to the farmers at the end of the process is invalid, as the course provider is not approved by either City & Guilds or Lantra to assess spraying competence. The advice is to ask for proof of qualifications before handing over money. Sometimes if something seems too good to be true, it probably is.
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