Pesticide Applicator: Getting Tough with Pests and Going Soft on Pollinators Online Course

More and more people are growing concerned about the impact of pesticides on pollinating insects, and new state and federal regulations around pesticide use on pollinators attempt to address this issue.

This raises the question: Is it possible to go hard on pests and still be soft on pollinators?

Pesticides with Minimal Impact

This course provides pesticide applicators with an easy-to-apply set of rules to select and apply pesticides with minimal impact to pollinators.

In this online self-paced course, you will cover:

How to select pesticides that pose the lowest risk to pollinators.
How to apply pesticides in a way that redices the risk to pollinators.
How to find and interpret pesticide label language about pollinators.
How to use PNW 591 "How to Reduce Bee Poisoning from Pesticides" as a manual.
How you can work with local bee-keepers to reduce risk.

After completing this course, you will be able to judge the risk of a pesticide treatment to pollinators, based on 1) the pesticide label and 2) PNW 591 – “How to Reduce Bee Poisoning from Pesticides” (as a publication or mobile app). Afterwards, you will be able to take practical risk-reduction steps while also keeping pests under control.

Development of this course was supported in part by the Foundation for Food and Agriculture Research's (FFAR) Pollinator Health Fund.

Pesticide Recertification Credit

The following courses are currently approved by Oregon Department of Agriculture for Pesticide Certification and license renewal:

The following courses are currently approved by Idaho State Department of Agriculture:

At this time our online courses are not approved for Washington state recertification.

Interested in on-site pesticide recertification courses? Click here for details.

IMPORTANT: Final grade reporting to the state will include grades released as of December 31. Our system takes 24 hours for grades to release, to ensure your grade will be counted toward the calendar year, you need to complete the final quiz no later than December 30.

Each of our courses in the Pesticide Applicator series can also count as Continuing Education Hours for the Oregon State Landscape Contractors Board.

On demand. Access any time.

Online

$35

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Additional Information:
1 CORE ODA pesticide recertification credit.
1 CORE ISDA pesticide recertification credit.

Instructors

Kaci Buhl

Kaci Buhl is an Associate Professor of Practice at Oregon State University (OSU). She coordinates the Statewide Pesticide Safety Education Program, working to educate professional pesticide applicators. On the national level, Ms. Buhl is the Deputy Director of the Pesticide Educational Resources Collaborative, which creates pesticide manuals, exams, and other resources for professionals. She studied integrated pest management (IPM) at Michigan State University and previously coordinated the National Pesticide Information Center (NPIC).

Andony Melathopoulos

Andony Melathopoulos is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Horticulture who leads OSU’s efforts to design, implement and evaluate a state-wide pollinator health program. OSU’s work around pollinator health comes out of a mandate from the Oregon Legislature. Each year Andony provides training to over 1500 pesticide applicators on how to reduce pesticide exposure to pollinating insects, and he also hosts a weekly podcast on pollinator health (PolliNation). Andony is currently working on a number of education products designed for helping homeowners and landscapers better understand how to manage pests while minimizing impacts to pollinators. He also sits on the steering Committee of the Oregon Bee Project, which coordinates pollinator health work across state agencies.

Past Students' Work

Take a look at some recent projects our students have created.