“I am a farmer who gets a local contractor to carry out spraying for me. However, I usually spray a few nettles and docks as and when the need arises using my own knapsack. Do I need to register with the Department of Agriculture to be able to continue spraying?”
If you want to continue spraying, you must register as a ‘‘professional user’’ by 26 November 2015. You may need to do a course before you are allowed to register. The Sustainable Use Directive requires professional users of pesticides to have completed an approved pesticide course and registered by the 26 November 2015 deadline. Some farmers may have completed pesticide use training at some time during their lives but they must have proof of this to back up such a claim. Failure to register can result in a €250 penalty and/or a penalty to your Basic Payment Scheme payment, if you continue to apply pesticides either with a boom or knapsack sprayer after the deadline for registration.
Who should register?
Anyone who applies pesticides which are marked as ‘‘professional use’’ on the label, irrespective of the method of application or quantity applied must register. For example, Roundup which is being applied with a knapsack sprayer or any product applied to grassland or crops with a sprayer must register. A farmer who buys sprays, but gets a contractor who is a registered professional user to apply them on their behalf does not have to register. But if the farmer does some knapsack spraying himself/herself too, they must register.
Farmers can register online at http://www.pcs.agriculture.gov.ie/sud/sudreg/ by 26 November.
Spraying qualifications
In order to register as a professional user, you are required to have formal training in the safe use and application of pesticides. Experience alone is not sufficient. A farmer must have completed an approved pesticide course and a list of approved training providers are available on the Department of Agriculture website.
Persons who have completed the pesticide application module as part of a Teagasc course (FETAC Level 5 or 6) will meet the requirements for professional user training. If you have completed a qualification that was awarded by Teagasc and are unsure as to whether it qualifies you as a professional user, you can verify it by submitting a query form directly to Teagasc.
Equivalent qualifications may also be recognised as meeting the requirements to register as a professional user and the Department of Agriculture will determine if alternative qualifications meet requirements on a case-by-case basis. If you do need to do a training course, I understand that they can cost anything from €150 (if subsidised by a local merchant) up to €350 for a two-and-a-half-day course.
Initially, a farmer had to do a separate course for a boom and knapsack sprayer but now the boom sprayer course will double for a knapsack user. As of now, the process involves a single registration that lasts indefinitely and there is no obligation for ongoing training but I understand this could change in time.
Consequences of not registering
All registered users will be given a specific individual number and this will be required from the end of this year as part of a cross-compliance inspection. If a farmer is found to be in breach of cross compliance through negligence, a penalty of 3% will normally apply, but this can be reduced to 1% or increased to 5% depending on the extent, severity and permanence of non-compliance.
If reoccurrence applies, the penalty will be multiplied by three to a limit of 15%. All sales of professional use chemicals must be recorded by the seller. Users may come on to the register after the 26 November deadline,
Purchase of pesticides
Any herd or flock owner or registered professional user can purchase professional use products. Only registered professional users can apply these products.
Testing of boom sprayers
Another element of the Sustainable Use Directive is a requirement that all agricultural sprayers with a boom width of more than 3m and all orchard sprayers must be tested. This must be done by this time next year, ie 26 November 2016.
A certificate and sticker will be provided for each sprayer which passes the test and must remain with the sprayer even if it is sold.
Sprayers used to apply pesticides will be checked to see whether they have a current test certificate as part of a cross-compliance inspection. The sprayers must be tested every five years which will reduce to every three years after 2020. New sprayers will have to be tested at least once within five years of their purchase, which will reduce to three years after 2020.
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