Free online certificate

Western Farm Press is offering four free continuing education hours for California and Arizona Pest Control Advisers (PCA) and licensed applicators on two Web sites.

Go to www.westernfarmpress.com or www.farmpressuniversity.com and on both Web sites are three courses accredited by the California Department of Pesticide Regulation (DPR) and one accredited by the Arizona Department of Agriculture (ADA). The accreditation is for all licensing categories in both states, PCAs and all applicator categories.

The courses include:

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"Powdery Mildew Control in California Grapevines." This has been approved by DPR for 2 hours in the "Other" category. This course is sponsored by Dow AgroSciences.

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"Spray Drift Management to Minimize Problems" is approved by DPR for one hour of laws and regulations. It is also approved for one hour of credit by ADA. Valent USA is sponsoring this online course.

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"California Groundwater Protection Regulations" is the third course online at both the Western Farm Press and Farm Press University Web sites. It is also accredited by DPR for one hour of laws and regulations. It is sponsored by Bayer CropScience.

Almost 275 California and Arizona licensees have taken the courses. The Groundwater course was launched in April and the Powdery Mildew and Spray Drive Management courses were launched in October. Farm Press University also was launched October.

The courses include texts on the subject and 25 to 30 questions per course. A licensee reads the texts and answers the questions. The questions must be answered correctly for the licensee to complete the online course.

When the course is completed, a certificate page is either e-mailed or mailed to Western Farm Press which reports the course completion to DPR or ADA. Each course also includes a verification of attendance form at the end for licensees to print for their records.