USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service administers the Federal Pesticide Recordkeeping Program, which requires all certified private pesticide applicators to keep records of their use of federally restricted use pesticides (RUP) for a period of 2 years.
The Federal Pesticide Recordkeeping Program was authorized by the Food, Agriculture, Conservation, and Trade Act of 1990, commonly referred to as the 1990 Farm Bill. Under this law, all certified private pesticide applicators who have no requirement through State regulations to maintain RUP records must comply with the Federal pesticide recordkeeping regulations. Certified private pesticide applicators who are required to maintain records of RUP applications whose State regulations have been determined comparable to the Federal regulations will continue to keep the records as required by the State. Regulations of the Department of Agriculture pertaining to pesticide recordkeeping are found in the Code of Federal Regulations Title 7 Part 110.
The pesticide recordkeeping regulations require the certified private pesticide applicator to record the following for each restricted use pesticide application, within 14 days of the application:
- The Brand or Product Name; that is, trademark name of the pesticide being used.
- The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Registration Number. The registration number is not the same as the EPA Establishment Number which is also located on the label.
- The total quantity of the pesticide applied in common units of measure. Such as pints, quarts, gallons, etc. of concentrated pesticide. Amount does not refer to the percent of active ingredient (a.i.).
- The date of the pesticide application, including month, day, and year.
- The location of the restricted use pesticide application. Not the address of the farm or business. Options are by: a) County, range, township, or section, b) Identification system established by USDA, such as plat IDs used by the Farm Service Agency (FSA) or the Natural Resource Conservation Service (NRCS), c) Legal property description, as listed on the deed of trust or county/city records, or d) An applicator generated identification system that accurately identifies the location of the application.
- Crop, Commodity, Stored Product, or Site being treated.
- Size of area treated. Record this information in the unit of measure (such as acres, linear feet, bushel, cubic feet, number of animals, etc.) which is normally expressed on the label in reference to the application being made.
- The name of the certified private applicator performing and/or supervising the application.
- The certification number of the private applicator. If the name of the certified private applicator and the certification number are kept together, this information only has to be listed once. Note: the name and certification number may be recorded at the front of a record book if the same applicator is making the application.
Spot Treatment Requirements
Spot treatments are especially useful in the control of noxious weeds if you apply restricted use pesticides on the same day in a total area of less than 1/10 of an acre, you are required to record the following:
- Date of application including month, day, and year.
- Total amount of pesticide applied.
- Location of the pesticide application, designated as "Spot application" and short description. (The spot treatment provision excludes greenhouse and nursery applications.)
No standard Federal form is required, so that pesticide recordkeeping can be integrated into the applicator's current recordkeeping systems. Go to Pesticide Recordkeeping Forms.
All certified commercial pesticide applicators will continue to maintain the records they currently keep under State, Tribal, or Federal regulations.
- The Federal pesticide recordkeeping regulations require all commercial applicators, both agricultural and non-agricultural, to furnish a copy of the data elements required by this regulation, to the customer within 30 days of the restricted use pesticide application.
Access to RUP Records
- Certified/licensed health care professionals, or those acting under their direction, may have access to your record information when treating an individual who may have been exposed to restricted use pesticides. In the case of a medical emergency, record information must be made available immediately.
- State pesticide regulatory representatives.
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