Pesticide applicator programs

Published: 2022
By Marc King

2022 was a recertification year for private pesticide applicators in region 5, which includes Sweet Grass County. Sweet Grass County MSU Extension and the Sweet Grass County Noxious Weed Coordinator worked together to host three large educational days to help producers learn new formulations and techniques for controlling the growing population of noxious weeds. Producers learned about new formulations of herbicides for control of invasive grasses that are starting to show up in our county. Producers also learned about noxious weed identification, equipment maintenance, calibration, and water quality related to herbicide efficiency. In total, over 278 land managers took part in the educational seminars and received credits toward re-certification of their Montana Private Applicator licenses. Noxious weeds constitute one of the largest economic impacts on agricultural lands, both crop and range land in Sweet Grass County. In regions of the county, like up the Boulder River drainage, the spread of Leafy Spurge is estimated at impacting close to 40% of the private lands.