Plant protection: authorisation, spraying certificate and IPM

Plant protection products — chemical agents against weeds, fungi and pests — are effective tools, but they are also strictly regulated because they can harm humans, livestock, the aquatic environment and beneficial organisms. Being allowed to buy and use them professionally is not a foregone conclusion: it requires training, valid authorisation and ongoing continuing education. A skilled farmer not only knows how to set up a field sprayer, but also why the rules are as they are and how to use as little product as possible.

§Education, certificate and authorisation

To use plant protection products professionally you must have passed an education and be authorized. The authorization is administered in the Environmental Agency's authorization system (MAB) where it is registered that you have the necessary qualifications. Retailers may only sell professional products to persons with valid authorization so it is effectively the entry ticket to both buying and using the products.

The actual qualification is obtained through a course which concludes with a theoretical and practical test. The theoretical part covers among other things legislation health environment and dosing; the practical part is about correct and safe operation of the spraying equipment. There is both training aimed at field farming and a separate scheme for hand and back sprayers.

§Follow-up and maintenance of the qualification

At regular intervals you must complete a follow-up course to renew your authorisation. The course updates on new legislation new products and changed practice. If you let your qualification expire you may neither spray nor purchase products until it is renewed — and it can in worst case mean that necessary treatment cannot be done on time. Check the validity in good time and book follow-up before it expires.

§Integrated Pest Management (IPM)

Integrated Pest Management (IPM, Integrated Pest Management) is a legally required principle in the EU that says chemical control is the last resort – not the first. You must first prevent and monitor, and only treat chemically when necessary, and then with the gentlest suitable means at the lowest effective dose. IPM is based on a chain of steps:

• 01Prevent — crop rotation, healthy varieties, good field hygiene and correct sowing times so problems are reduced from the start.
• 02Monitor — go through the field and assess the actual infestation rather than spraying routinely.
• 03Decide — spray only when the damage threshold is reached and the attack really threatens the yield.
• 04Choose gently — use mechanical, biological or cultivation methods where they work, otherwise choose the least harmful suitable agent.
• 05Dose precisely — use the lowest effective dose and avoid unnecessary full-area treatment.
• 06Change mechanism of action — vary the way means work over time to prevent weeds, fungi, and insects from developing resistance.
• 07Evaluate—assess the effect and use the experience for next season.

§Pligter, journal og afstandskrav

With use comes a number of obligations. One must keep a spray journal documenting what has been applied where when in what dose and against what. The label on the individual product is binding: it sets approved crops doses number of treatments requirements for protective equipment and distance requirements to watercourses lakes and sensitive areas. One must also comply with the general distance and drift rules and respect the deadlines that apply before harvest.

§Health and Personal Protection

The user is in direct contact with the agents and is therefore the one who must be protected best. Read the label's requirements for personal protective equipment and use them consistently — typically gloves, protective suit and if necessary respiratory protection during mixing where concentration is highest. Store agents locked, separately from feed and food, and handle empty packaging and residues according to the rules. Good work hygiene — wash hands, change contaminated clothes — is a fixed part of the trade.