Let’s walk through the Pesticides input screen. You can add most chemicals to your input list by picking from a list of items that have already been set up. But these pre-built inputs will have some blanks to fill in, so we’ll go through the screen, touch on fields that often get skipped over and talk about why you may want to fill them in.

First, the Organic checkbox. If a chemical is marked as organic, the Groups, PCP#, REI and PHI fields will disappear. With an organic designation, there’s no need to track these fields. The Type field helps you sort your chemicals by the type of pest they control.  Both of these fields make it easier to find the chemical you’re looking for when entering operations.

The next section has two functions. First, it makes your operation entry more efficient by recording the product’s default application rate. That saves you from fiddling with measurement units when you’re in the field. Second, it lays the groundwork for calculating the chemical portion of your cost of production. If you want to calculate a cost of production, be sure to fill in all of these fields.

(Chemical) resistance is futile

The final section tells us about the chemical we’re setting up. Tracking group(s) can come in handy. When you start experiencing resistance on the field, you can look back at which groups have been tried. PCP#s is the registration number for the product assigned by the Pest Management Regulatory Agency; tracking this number is vital depending on the type of farm. The Re-entry interval and Pre-harvest intervals tell you when it’s safe to enter or harvest that field without manually calculating those dates. You can also enter up to four of the chemical’s active ingredients in this section.  All of these items, where necessary, report to Canada GAP/Canadian Horticultural Council forms.

Finally, there’s a notes section where you can enter in anything that doesn’t have an assigned spot.  You don’t have to fill in everything. Our best advice? Decide what’s important to you and track those items. Typically, the more information you provide, the better your reporting will be.

Last updated on June 14, 2017 by FCC AgExpert