Announcement for a Pesticide Risk Reduction Education Short Course on Kauaʻi, January 29&30

Posted November 10, 2025

LOCATION

Lihue (zip code 96766) on Kauaʻi

DATES & TIMES

January 29-30, 2019. 8:00AM - 5:00 PM each day.

Breaks are about 60 minutes apart. Lunch break on your own is one hour. (No food or beverages will be provided.)

INTRODUCTION

This in-depth two-day short course is about handling pesticides, including herbicides, in ways that will reduce risks to people and our environment. It will be conducted by an instructor from the Cooperative Extension, a part of the College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources, University of Hawaii at Manoa DAB, and HIOSH.

WHO WOULD BENEFIT?

The course would benefit people who want to be better informed about handling pesticides properly or prepare for the Hawaii Department of Agriculture’s examination for restricted use pesticide certification.

Certified applicators will not earn re-certification credits by attending this course.

TOPICS

The instructor will discuss the topics in the study guides in a basic or “core” study packet, which provide information common to all categories of restricted use pesticide certification. (More information about study guides is below, under STUDY GUIDES.) But, topics such as identification and life cycles of specific pests and specialized equipment and calculations are covered only in the study guides in “category-specific” study packets, not in the short course. So if you plan to take a certification exam, you should also study the “category-specific” study guides, such as those in the “Private 1,2,3” study packet or the “Commercial 2 Forest pest control” study packet” or the “Commercial 7a,b,c,d,e pest control” study packet. (The complete list of categories of study packets is at https://cms.ctahr.hawaii.edu/epp/Education/Study-Guide-Packets.)

The basic or “core” topics to be covered in the short course include:

REGISTRATION

Deadline for registration is Jan 20, 2026 . Enrollment is limited to 20 people.

If you have a disability and may need accommodations to participate, contact dragich@hawaii.edu by December 1, 2025

Fee for registration is $115.30 per person. The fee is for the two days’ presentations, materials, supplies, and classroom handouts. No food or beverages will be provided. The fee for taking an exam for restricted use pesticide certification is not included. (If you plan to take one of the certification exams offered by the Hawaii Department of Agriculture, read the note “EXAMS FOR CERTIFICATION” near the bottom of this page.)

Registration link is here: Kauai RUP Core Exam Preparation 2-Day Course – Fill out form

STUDY GUIDES

Study guides for certification exams are not the same as the classroom handouts. You should get the study guides if you plan to study for a "restricted use" pesticide certification exam offered by the Hawaii Department of Agriculture. There is more information about this at t https://cms.ctahr.hawaii.edu/epp/Education/Study-Guide-Packets.

FOR MORE INFORMATION

Contact dragich@hawaii.edu or call (808) 956-6008.

EXAMS FOR CERTIFICATION

Test takers must make an appointment to take the exam to qualify for certification to buy or use restricted use pesticides in Hawaii. The Hawaii Department of Agriculture’s employees will sign up a test taker for a specific location, date and time. There is a fee for taking an exam. (This fee is not included in the registration fee for the short course.) Read more about the exams at the Hawaii Department of Agriculture's webpage: hdoa.hawaii.gov/pi/pest/pesticide-applicator-certificationrecertification-2/

FREE BOOKLETS AVAILABLE BEFORE SHORT COURSE BEGINS

For a free copy of the booklet, “Test Your Math Skills,” contact the instructor or download it HERE. The leaflet presents exercises and answers that will help trainees refresh basic math skills needed to understand the instructor’s calculation examples. Trainees who find the exercises difficult will get more benefit from the short course if they get tutoring before the course begins. The exercises review (1) common fractions and their decimal number equivalents, (2) rounding-off, (3) percent, (4) conversions between • seconds and minutes • ounces and pounds • fluid ounces, pints, and gallons • square feet and acres, (5) reading tables, and (6) calculating square feet of rectangular areas. Test-takers must have these skills to answer some of the questions in the certification exams.

You can download another free leaflet, Practice Analyzing an Insecticide Label, HERE. Study the examples to boost your pesticide label reading skills, which you will need to plan a pesticide treatment or to prepare for the Hawaii Department of Agriculture’s restricted use pesticide certification exam.