Agriculture and Natural Resources

Virginia citizens are interested in growing their own food and caring for their personal landscape. Virginia Cooperative Extension is committed to helping citizens learn about maintaining a healthy home environment, create sustainable rural or urban landscapes, protect water resources, grow a garden, and properly manage pests and wildlife.Virginia Cooperative Extension specialists, agents, and master gardener volunteers work to provide training, information, and science-based answers homeowners need. 

Read more about our Norfolk programs below!

Announcements

July 13th Pesticide Applicator Re-Certification Canceled

Due to mandated summer-long hiatus of all in-person Virginia Cooperative Extension-led educational programing, Pesticide Applicator Re-Certification at Norfolk Botanical Garden on Monday, July 13 has been canceled. Regional Agriculture and Natural Resources Agents are working to provide alternative opportunities for re-certification, so please stay tuned for updates. In the meantime, please immediately go to the VDACS training opportunities page below for upcoming online trainings: https://www.vdacs.virginia.gov/pesticide-applicator-training.shtml.

Additionally, the Virginia Turfgrass Council is planning to hold free online re-certification trainings in the coming months. Please visit their webpage below to keep track of updates on that program: https://www.vaturf.org/

For all questions involving license expirations, please contact VDACS Office of Pesticide Services directly using the following directory: https://www.vdacs.virginia.gov/about-division-of-consumer-protection.shtml#pesticides. 

Message from VDACS Office of Pesticide Services' Liza Fleeson Trossbach:

Given the continuing public health crisis, the Administration has approved the following changes:

Pesticide Applicator Certification Renewal Date - For 2020, the certification renewal date has been extended from June 30 to August 29, 2020. This extension will allow applicators an additional 60 days to take the recertification training required for renewal. Applicators may continue to apply pesticides between June 30 and August 29, however, all applicators must renew by midnight on August 29. Applicators who do not review by August 29 can not apply pesticides until they renew their certification. There is no additional grace period. In addition, applicators who do not renew their certification by August 29 will be required to renew by testing. Renewal notices will be mailed in the near future and applicators are encouraged to renew their certificates after they take the required recertification course. While the 2020 date for renewal has been extended to August 29, the expiration date of certificates renewed during 2020 will be June 30, 2022.

Authorization to Test - All authorization letters for prospective applicators to take the exam(s) to become certified issued on or after December 20, 2019, will have their expiration dates extended to July 31, 2020 or the current date of expiration, whichever is greater. Prospective applicators that do not take the exam(s) by July 31, 2020 or the current date of expiration, whichever is greater, will be required to submit a new application with appropriate fees to take the exam(s).

Also, as a reminder, while some recertification courses have been cancelled or postponed, there are approved online recertification courses for the majority of categories. A list of approved recertification courses is available here.