The St. Joseph Parish Life Center in Wapakoneta underwent a transformation on Monday, as The Ohio State University Auglaize County Extension temporarily turned the parish hall into a classroom for the day.
As part of Auglaize County Agronomy Day, local farmers gathered for numerous presentations from area agronomists, all in an effort to have their pesticide applicators license re-certified.
The state requires that an applicator's license is re-certified every three years, with two options for farmers to extend the validity of the license for another three years. The first is a test. The second is attending three hours of classes, an opportunity many took to complete their re-certification on Monday.
But for Jeff Stachler, an educator at the Auglaize County Extension, it's about much more than that.
"It's an opportunity for them to learn," he said. "We are providing credits today for their pesticide applicators license, but I like to look at the bigger picture first."
Educators from Auglaize, Mercer, Hardin, Shelby, Darke, and Miami Counties covered a variety of subjects regarding pesticides and fertilizers, even demonstrating equipment and effective safety procedures.
Dr. Laura Lindsey, a professor from the flagship Columbus campus, was also in town for the event and led off the day with a lecture on how to maximize soybean production.
From there, the extension educators built on...
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