Commercial/Non-Commercial Applicators

Commercial applicators are certified individuals who apply or supervise the use of restricted-use pesticides (RUPs) or general-use pesticides on a "for-hire" basis, typically on the property of others. They operate as a business, often focusing on preventive pest management for commercial, industrial, or agricultural, and public health purposes.

Noncommercial applicator means any licensed individual making pesticide applications only to lands owned, occupied, or managed by his or her employer.

An applicant can qualify for a commercial or noncommercial license after passing an exam confirming competency in the license category consistent with the intended application of pesticides. The license exam fulfills the federal commercial pesticide applicator certification requirements.  Commercial/noncommercial applicator shall not apply any pesticide unless he or she has certified competency and licensed in a category consistent with the application.

The University of Kentucky works with the Kentucky Department of Agriculture to provide category-specific training materials to meet core competency requirements. The Kentucky Department of Agriculture administers and scores exams for applicators, collects license fees, approves educational programs for Continuing Education Units (CEUs), and maintains the website where applicators can check on their CEU status.

Commercial/Non-Commercial Category Descriptions

Use these category descriptions to find the category that fits your intended types of pesticide applications. This will direct you to the correct training manuals. If you have questions about the category you need to study and obtain a license for, call the UK Entomology Department at 859-257-7450.

Cat 1A – Agricultural Plant Pest Control - This includes persons applying or supervising the application of pesticides in production of agricultural commodities including, for example, grain crops, tobacco, hemp, vegetables, small fruits, tree fruits and nuts, grasslands, non-crop agricultural lands, nurseries, and greenhouses.

Cat 2 - Forest pest control - This includes persons applying or supervising the application of pesticides in forests, forest nurseries, and forest seed producing areas.

Cat 3 – Ornamental, turf and lawn care - This includes persons applying pesticides or impregnated fertilizer to control insects, weeds, and diseases in turf, lawns, and maintenance of ornamental trees, shrubs and flowers, including the control of pests that do not normally invade structures, such as bagworms, grubs, and moles. Licensure in this category qualifies an applicator to make applications to interior plantscapes, sports turf, and golf courses.

Cat 4 – Seed Treatment - This category applies to commercial applicators using or supervising the use of pesticides on seeds in seed treatment facilities.

Cat 5 - Aquatic pest control - This includes persons applying or supervising the application of any pesticide purposefully applied to standing or running water. Applicators holding a public health pest control license and engaged in public health-related activities may make applications requiring an aquatic pest control license.

Cat 6 – Right-of-way pest control - This includes persons applying or supervising the application of pesticides in the maintenance of public roads, utility lines, pipelines, railway rights-of-way, or other similar areas.

Cat 7 - Industrial, institutional, and structural pest control - This applies to persons who use or supervise the use of pesticides in, on, or around food handling establishments, packing houses, and food-processing facilities; human dwellings; institutions, such as schools, hospitals, and prisons; and industrial establishments, including manufacturing facilities, warehouses, grain elevators, and any other structures and outside areas, public or private, for the protection of stored, processed, or manufactured products. Industrial, institutional, and structural, pest control shall be divided into the following subcategories:

• Cat 7A – Structural pest management - This includes persons who use pesticides, other than fumigants, to control pests, general pests, and wood-destroying organisms that threaten the structural integrity, the human occupancy, or the contents of such structures. Persons licensed under this section are exempt from the certification license requirements of other categories if using or supervising the use of pesticides to control pests, general pests, and wood-destroying organisms in outside areas related to a structure. 
• Cat 7B – Structural fumigation - This includes persons who use or supervise the use of a pesticide to fumigate anything other than soil, including structures intended for human occupancy.
• Cat 7C – Wood preservatives - This includes persons who apply pesticides to wood and wood products to protect from wood-destroying organisms. Excluded from this category are persons engaged in structural pest control.

Cat 8 - Public health pest control - This includes state, federal or other governmental employees and contractors who use or supervise the use of pesticides in government-sponsored public health programs for the management and control of pests having medical and public health importance. Applicators holding a public health pest control license and engaged in public health-related activities may make applications requiring an aquatic pest control license.

Cat 9 – Regulatory pest control - This includes state, federal, or other local governmental employees and contractors who use or supervise the use of pesticides in government-sponsored programs for the control of regulated pests. Licensure in this category does not authorize the purchase, use, or supervision of use of products for predator control authorized under federal law.

Cat 10 - Demonstration and research pest control - This includes individuals who demonstrate to the public the proper uses and techniques of applying pesticides or supervise the demonstration. Included in this are persons such as extension specialists and county agents, individuals demonstrating methods used in public programs, and persons conducting field research with pesticides, and in so doing, apply or supervise the application of pesticides. This group shall include state and federal employees and other persons conducting field research on pesticides.

Cat 11 – Aerial - This includes persons applying pesticides using fixed or rotary wing aircraft or unmanned aerial vehicles. Persons obtaining this category shall also possess an additional license in another category that relates to the location of the intended target pest.

Cat 12 – Soil fumigation - This includes persons who use or supervise the use of a pesticide to fumigate soil.

Cat 13 - Non-soil fumigation - This includes persons who use or supervise the use of a pesticide to fumigate anything other than soil, excluding structures intended for human occupancy.

Certification Maintenance

To be eligible to renew your commercial/non-commercial license, in the 3-year period prior to each annual license renewal, you must attend at least 12 continuing education units (CEUs) of training which have been approved by the Department of Agriculture by November 30 of each year. At least 1 CEU must be related to each category of license you hold.  If you do not obtain at least the minimum of 12 CEUs within the 3-year period prior to renewal your license will not be renewed until:

• You retest and successfully pass the competency examination for the license associated with the CEU deficiency; and
• You pay all required fees and any associated fines.