Thanks for participating in the Pesticide Applicator Workshop

Farming Smarter was proud to host two informative sessions for this year’s Pesticide Applicator Workshop.

The March 18 and 25 workshops connected applicators to information updated for 2026, along with hard-to-find Pesticide Applicator credits and Certified Crop Advisor CEUs required to maintain their certification status in the agriculture, landscape, industrial, and forestry industries.

March 18 Recap

The first workshop opened with a discussion from Jason Burt, Regulatory Compliance and Enforcement Officer with Health Canada’s Pesticide Compliance Program. Burt’s presentation revolved around soil erosion, pesticide degradation, and how temperature, pH, moisture and molecular structure affect reactions.

The most important thing he stressed to the audience is to carefully read and follow all label instructions.

Mike Gretzinger, Farming Smarter’s Research Manager, followed with a presentation about how all water is not created equal.

While water is the “universal solvent,” he explained that turbidity and pH can heavily alter the chemical makeup of water and affect the efficacy of your pesticide. Gretzinger concluded with what causes these changes and what steps producers can take to manage it.

Rob Proulx, Ag Technology and Grain Systems Specialist with North Dakota State University Extension, was next.

Proulx shared how applicators can adapt their sprayers to account for less-than-ideal weather conditions. Changes in temperatures, winds, and drying conditions all affect the performance of pesticides and their application efficacy, he explained.

His presentation concluded with how applicators can identify these influences and make the right nozzle selection before they spray.

The final presentation of the first Pesticide Applicator Workshop was from Dr. Boyd Mori, an Associate Professor at the University of Alberta’s Ag, Food & Nutri Sci Department.

Dr. Mori reviewed how farmers can maintain effect control of major prairie crop pests, which common insects they must contend with, and the best suited insecticides for managing them.

His presentation ended with a list of free resources farmers can use to identify and respond to pests, such as Alberta Insect Pest Monitoring Network Crop Protection Guide, Field Crop and Forage Pests and their Natural Enemies in Western Canada, and Cutworm Pests of Crops on the Canadian Prairies.

March 25 Recap

The second session kicked off with a presentation from Devon Smiegielski, a Pesticide Certification Specialist with Alberta Environment and Parks.

She gave an overview of recent updates to the Environmental Code of Practice for Pesticides, which ensure better consistency, clarity and enforcement.

Smiegielski delved into the Pesticide Incident Statistics for 2025, which show that increased education and awareness of reporting requirements are paying off, especially among farmers.

An increase in aerial pesticide incidents are due to the increased use of drones in pesticide application, while the rise in vendor incidents was the result of more proactive inspections.

Attendees to the workshop also learned about reporting requirements for a range of pesticide-related incidents.

Tanya Rushcall, Provincial Pesticide Approvals and Registration Specialist, was up next.

Her presentation focused on water data and how pesticide applicators can mitigate risks to nearby waterbodies.

She noted that the updated Environmental Code of Practice has now expanded for the control of invasive aquatic weeds.

There were also statistics showing recent sampling results from 386 sites across the country, 56 of which were in Alberta.

Andrea Sawatzky then gave a presentation called, “To Drift Or Not To Drift.”

She is a Pesticide Compliance and Enforcement Officer with Health Canada.

Sawatzky talked about how factors like wind, temperature, nozzle selection, spray volume and more can result in pesticides drifting away from the intended targets.

She says managing drift is important for protecting human and environmental health, and stressed the requirements to leave adequate buffer zones between where you are spraying and sensitive areas like bodies of water.

The final presentation was made by Farming Smarter’s Lewis Baarda.

He discussed The Kochia Dilemma, and how farmers and pesticide applicators can mitigate its spread.

Baarda admits that kochia can be difficult to manage due to it producing tens of thousands of seeds per plant and its strong capabilities of resisting herbicides.

Baarda and the rest of the team at Farming Smarter have been hard at work studying kochia, noting that faba beans and flax were effective at keeping it at bay.

Farming Smarter is gearing up to kick off the second season of a five-year trial into kochia management.

Those who attended the Pesticide Applicator Workshops can put their registration fees toward Farming Smarter’s Digital Learning subscription. 

For just $250 annually, you can register for the Pesticide Applicator Workshop and also receive many other benefits, such as delivered hard copies of the Farming Smarter Magazine, exclusive updates and reports on current research, a monthly subscriber-only newsletter, the subscriber YouTube library with over 850 videos, and more.