IFCA is laying the groundwork to ensure that our members have ample opportunity to receive dicamba label training, which is now a requirement for every private, commercial and certified operator who intends to apply Engenia, XtendiMax or FeXapan on soybeans.  No other formulations of dicamba can be used on soybeans--that is a willful violation of the Pesticide Act and carries substantial penalties up to $10,000.  IFCA has developed a Dicamba BMP guide that provides helpful recommendations on how to improve dicamba application in 2018, based on lessons learned in 2017.  Click here for the BMP guide and please share it with your farmer customers.  

 

We are working with the manufacturers of these products who are willing to provide us with qualified trainers.  We will offer this training on all 3 days of the IFCA Convention (Jan 16, 17 & 18) as well as at the CCA Convention on Dec 6 and the four UI Crop Management Conferences that begin in late January.  Since we have to reach a lot of commercial operators with this training, we encourage our members to host the training at your locations, and you can invite your farmer customers as well, which will help us also reach private applicators who need the training.  We've already started a list of retailers who are willing to host training sessions.  At this point we don't envision any charge to our members for this training, especially if the training can be hosted by you or done in conjunction with already scheduled events such as the Convention and other conferences.  We are also working with Extension to add a session to the end of the already scheduled private and certified applicator training/testing clinics this winter, stay tuned on that.  To see the current list of dates and locations for the pesticide training and testing clinics, click here.  

 

If you would like to host a dicamba training session at your retail location this winter, please email jeanp@ica.com and we will get you on the list.  Keep in mind the more people you can attract, the better the possibility that we can get a trainer secured for you.  There are nearly 18,000 people just in Illinois that will need training this winter so we need to be efficient with this program.  Watch for a weblink from IFCA soon that will list all the training opportunities.