Private pesticide applicators:
- are individuals who apply restricted-use pesticides to their own or their employer's agricultural crops. In addition to farm crops, this includes Christmas trees, forests, and nursery and greenhouse plants.
- must be certified, but do not need a license.
Steps to Certification
Certification:
There are three base categories and three sub categories to choose from for certification. You may need more than one depending on the work you do.
- Buy training materials from the University of Wisconsin PAT Program.
- Once you have received your training material and are ready to take the exam, you have three options:
- You can take the paper-based test (free) at a participating county extension office.
- You can take a computer=based test with Pearson Vue for a convenience fee of $45. There are 54 technical colleges that you can choose from to take this exam or if you have all the requirements, this can be taken from your home/office. If you are interested with this option you can follow this link : https://home.pearsonvue.com/wi/agriculture.
Note: As private exams are open book, you cannot use your physical book for this option. Pearson Vue has a PDF that shares the screen with the exam.
This option is only available for certain times of the year.
- Any testing options will grant you five years of certification.
Applying pesticides in Indian country:
In addition to state certification and licensing, you need federal certification from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to apply restricted-use pesticides in Indian country. After receiving certification in a Wisconsin category, you must apply to the EPA for certification, which will be based on the Wisconsin category.
EPA information and application form for Indian country certification
Have additional questions? Check out our FAQ page.
<<Back to certification and licensing main page