Crops-Soils-Pesticide

The Extension Crops and Soils Program provides timely resources and information to help Wisconsin crop producers and their agricultural consultants manage crops efficiently and profitably.
Rows of Corn

You can find information on:

  • Crop Production and cropping systems for corn, soybeans, forages, nutrient management, soil science, commercial vegetable, and cover crops. Badger Crop Network offers timely blog posts and website articles.
  • Badger Crop Connect webinars April 10 – November 6. Join industry experts, UW-Madison researchers, and Extension specialists and educators every second and fourth Thursdays from April to October at 12:30 p.m. on Zoom for discussions on timely topics selected by educators based throughout Wisconsin. Dates are June 12 & 26, July 10 & 24, Aug. 14 & 28, Sept. 11 & 25, Oct. 9 & 23, Nov. 6. Certified Crop Advisor CEUs will be available for webinars. Registration is required. Recordings of webinars will be available online for on-demand viewing. If you have questions or are in need of accommodations, please contact Chris Bandura at bandura@wisc.edu.
  • Pest Management: Information on the management of weeds, insects, and disease in Wisconsin cropping systems.
  • Ask Extension: Your opportunity to talk directly with Extension specialists and staff

Discovery Farms

Discovery Farms, a program of UW-Madison Division of Extension, is a farmer-led research and outreach program focused on the relationship between agriculture and water quality. The program is unique in that it conducts research on privately-owned farms throughout Wisconsin. Discovery Farms works with the U.S. Geological Survey to gather credible and unbiased water quality information from monitored sites.

Discovery Farms logo

Discovery Farms develops on-farm and related research to determine the economic and environmental effects of agricultural practices on a diverse group of Wisconsin farms; and educates and improves communications among the agricultural community, consumers, researchers, and policymakers to better identify and implement effective environmental management practices that are compatible with profitable agriculture.

Juneau & Sauk Counties Crop Updates Newsletter – from your local Extension Crops and Soils Educator, Anastasia Kurth

2026 Pesticide Private Applicator Training and Testing Options

General Information

A private applicator is a person who applies restricted-use (pesticide label identifies) pesticide to produce an agricultural commodity AND pesticides are applied on property that you own, rent or your employer owns or rents. If an applicator does not meet BOTH parts of the definition, they are considered a commercial applicator. Example of a commercial applicator is working for a lawn care company or county Highway employee. Commercial applicators must take their certification exam through DATCP. Those wishing to be certified in Fruit Crops or Greenhouse and Nursery can take the General Farming training, but then take the exam for those specialized categories.

  • Certification Validity: Certification is valid for 5 years
  • Certification Status Check: Applicators can check certification status here: http://www.kellysolutions.com/WI/Applicators/index.asp.
  • Notifying expiring license holders: The Pesticide Applicator Training Program (PAT) notifies farmers with expiring certifications, but it’s the farmer’s responsibility to track their status.
  • Contact Information: For questions, contact patprogram@mailplus.wisc.edu, 608-262-7588, or 414-399-0373.

Training Materials

  • Everyone that would like to become Private Pesticide Applicator certified must purchase a manual. Manuals cost $43 and each person must have their own manual, as it includes a unique PAT number on the certificate found inside the manual (needed when handing in the test). Those retaking within a year do not need the certificate.
  • Applicators can only purchase manuals from the PAT Program website: For mail orders, use this form: Private Applicator Mail Order Form. Manuals are delivered within 5-10 days at no charge. There is an additional shipping charge for rush delivery.

TRAINING-ONLY OPTIONS

  • Self-study: Self-study students purchase the manual, study independently, and test at a designated County Extension Office or Pearson VUE (online). See below for testing info.
  • Self-paced Online Training: Canvas course is available at the PAT Program website, $10 registration fee. Canvas course becomes active in the PAT Store on Friday, October 31, 2025, and takes approximately 3.5 hours. Stopping/starting throughout the training is allowed. Course must be completed for the reduction in passing score (50% instead of 70%). Participants that complete the online training will receive a completion email with their name on it making them eligible for a passing score of 50%. This has to be presented to the test proctor at time of exam to be coded as “attended a training.” If you choose to test with Pearson Vue testing company, you do not have to show the receipt, but you will have to get 70% to pass.

TESTING-ONLY OPTIONS

County Extension offices (test is proctored by county support staff):

  • Testing counties and contact info are posted on the UW PAT Program page.
  • A 70% or higher on the exam is required for self-study.
  • If training was done as “self-paced Online Training” (see Training-Only options) then a 50% or higher on the exam is required. The course completion confirmation email must be shown to the proctor to be coded as “attended a training.”
  • Private applicators from other counties can take the test at any participating location.

Pearson VUE Testing (online):

  • Tests can be taken through Pearson VUE for $45, with a 70% passing requirement.

TRAINING WITH A TEST OPTIONS

Regional County-hosted Training and Test:

  • Class is organized and hosted by Extension Regional Crops Educators with a Zoom training video.
  • Registration costs $10 and must be completed in advance through the UW PAT Program website. Test passing requirement is 50%.
  • Students must bring manual with certificate to the training.
  • Several dates and locations are posted online at the UW PAT Program website. Click on Private Applicators and then Training Classes. They are in alphabetical order by the County hosting the event.

DATCP-hosted Training and Test:

  • Class is organized and hosted by a DATCP representative using a PowerPoint training.
  • One training will be held in 2026, on January 28, 2026, at Corn Soy Expo, Kalahari Resort, 1305 Kalahari Drive, Wisconsin Dells, WI, 8 a.m.-4 p.m. 15 seats available.
  • Registration costs $10 and must be completed in advance through the UW PAT Program. Test passing requirement is 50%.
  • Students must bring manual with certificate to the training.

Soil Testing

The UW Soil and Forage Analysis Lab is working diligently on processing a large amount of soil samples. In order to give them time to catch up and ensure that results are accurate, we are currently recommending other Wisconsin certified labs. Customers can continue to borrow soil probes from the Juneau County Extension office to assist in taking samples. This will be done with the Extension office check-out process.

Wisconsin Certified Soil & Manure Testing Labs. Review this list for additional options.

Letter from UW Madison Division of Extension on soil sampling includes:

  • List of DATCP certified laboratories
  • UW Division of Extension soil sampling instructions
  • A video on collecting soil samples

Learn how soil sampling affects lab results.

Soil Health Lab, Sampling, and Test Selection Considerations

Judging Agriculture Crops

Research, articles and publications

  • 2025 Nitrogen Optimization Pilot Program (NOPP) grant applications open in October but farmers are encouraged to start thinking about projects. See the flyer for contact information. This program is administered by DATCP and facilitated by University of Wisconsin. It provides grants to producers that will conduct on-farm nitrogen research trials in order to use nitrogen fertilizer more efficiently while reducing nitrogen leaching. See DATCP’s Press Release, the grant application, request for proposals, and other application materials available on DATCP’s website.
  • 2024 Wisconsin Weed Science Research Report – The purpose of this report is to share annual research results with crop production clientele of Wisconsin. Information herein does not constitute a recommendation or endorsement of any particular product or practice. Information herein also does not replace any information presented on pesticide labels.
  • 2024 Wisconsin Corn Herbicide Survey – The objective of this survey is to document herbicide programs used in different Wisconsin corn production systems (e.g., tillage scenarios, atrazine prohibition areas, and silage vs grain). This survey is being conducted by Daniel Zhu, a graduate student in Dr. Rodrigo Werle’s WiscWeeds Lab. Results will be published as a part of Daniel’s MS thesis at UW-Madison. Your participation is critical for informing our research decisions, assisting us with making better recommendations, and allowing us to better provide dta for our stakeholders. Please fill out this survey and send it to fellow corn growers or consultants as well. Please mail the survey addressed to Daniel Zhu at 1575 Linden Dr, Madison, WI 53706 or scan it and send it via email to dqzhu@wisc.edu. Thank you for your time and support.
  • The Wisconsin Cover Crop Citizen Science Project – Wisconsin Cover Crop Citizen Science Network — Michael Fields Agricultural Institute
  • DATCP Issues Reminder after Federal Cancellation of Dicamba Herbicides Cancellation of dicamba over the top of Xtend soybean
  • Using Atrazine in Wisconsin
  • 2024 A Successful No-Till Workshop-Summary

For more information please contact:
Anastasia Kurth, Regional Crops & Soils Educator

Extension Juneau County
Courthouse
220 E. State Street, Room 104, Mauston, WI 53948
Phone: (608) 847-9329 / business cell (608) 477-3018