Pesticide licence in Wisconsin: categories, exam and renewal

This page reports what the official source says. It is not legal advice: ask the office named here. The source is the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection (DATCP), Bureau of Agrichemical Management, with the category list from the University of Wisconsin Pesticide Applicator Training Program that it points to. The parent page, pesticide licences by country, has the national background.

At a glance

Item	What the department says
Agency	Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection, Bureau of Agrichemical Management
What a for-hire applicator needs	Certification in a category (five years), an Individual Commercial Applicators License (yearly) and work for, or own, a Pesticide Business License (yearly)
Category for trees and turf	3.0 Turf and Landscape, which names arborists; 2.0 Forestry and 3.1 Greenhouse and Nursery are separate
Exam	Free paper exam at proctored locations, or computer-based through Pearson VUE for a US$45 convenience fee
Fees	Individual license US$40 plus a surcharge, US$50 in the figures posted; business license US$70 per location plus surcharge, US$90 in the figures posted
Recertification	Certification lasts five years from passing an exam; the reciprocal page states Wisconsin does not accept CEU credits
Insurance or bond	Not stated on the pages read
Reciprocity	A reciprocal certification and license, US$115 plus surcharge a year, for certified applicators from listed states

The three requirements

The department's commercial applicator page says a for-hire applicator needs three things before making any commercial application: certification in a specific category, renewed every five years; an Individual Commercial Applicators License, renewed each calendar year; and work for, or obtaining, a Pesticide Business License, also renewed each calendar year. It states that no application may be made until all three are in place. Not-for-hire, government and education applicators have their own license applications. The business license page adds that every applicator employed by a business must hold the individual license and be certified in the right category.

The category that covers trees and turf

The University of Wisconsin Pesticide Applicator Training Program's commercial certification categories page, which the department links, describes category 3.0 Turf and Landscape as for custom applicators treating sod, lawn care professionals, arborists, golf course and cemetery workers, park and campground employees and groundskeepers. Category 2.0 Forestry covers forested areas, forest nurseries, Christmas tree operations and stump treatment by loggers, and 3.1 Greenhouse and Nursery covers contract work in greenhouses and nurseries. The page counts 17 base categories and 3 subcategories. The department's page counts 20 categories in all.

Exam

An applicator buys training materials from the University of Wisconsin program and must have a PAT number before taking an exam or attending training. The commercial applicator page then gives three routes: a free paper test at a proctored location, a computer-based test with Pearson VUE for a US$45 convenience fee at one of 54 technical college sites or from home, or a University of Wisconsin training followed by the exam, available only at certain times of year. Any route grants five years of certification. The department's fact sheet notes that adding a category during the five years does not extend the expiration date.

Licence fees and dates

The page says individual licenses run January 1 to December 31 and cost US$40 plus the Agricultural Chemical Cleanup Program surcharge. At a surcharge of US$10 the fee is US$50, and the surcharge amount is set each May 1. Under the department's business license page, a Pesticide Business License costs US$70 per location plus a surcharge of US$20, US$90 in total, or US$115 for businesses with bulk pesticide. The fact sheet says applications received after December 31 carry a 20% late fee and a trainee can be registered for 30 days.

Reciprocity

On the department's reciprocal applicator page an applicator certified in another state can get a Wisconsin reciprocal certification and license without a Wisconsin exam if they live in the state where certified, hold a category equivalent to a Wisconsin one, passed a closed-book exam in the past five years at 70 percent or higher, can apply restricted-use pesticides, have no conditions on the home certification, and, for for-hire work, are employed by a licensed Wisconsin business. A list of states links to a state-by-state answer. The license is US$115 a year plus the surcharge, which the page puts at US$600 over five years against US$320 for certifying in Wisconsin and holding the US$40 license.