Are your spray records up to scratch?

Did you know that there is now state legislation and Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Association (APVMA) labelling laws that require pesticide applicators to maintain records of every application of a pesticide and retain these for two years?

The WA legislation is covered in the Biosecurity and Agriculture Management (Agricultural Chemical Record Keeping) Regulations 2020. These regulations state that if an agricultural chemical product is used on any land, the responsible owner or occupier must ensure that a record containing the required information is made no later than seven days after the date of the use; and keep that record until the end of the period of two years starting on the date of the use.

Records required:

• the date and the time of application
• the name and contact details of the responsible owner/occupier and the person who applied the chemical
• the location of the chemical application
• the name of the agricultural chemical product or products used
• method of application
• the rate of application or other information to allow the determination of application rate
• the situation, crop or commodity to which the chemical was applied
• additional records as required by the product label or permit of the chemical product used.

DPIRD have developed a record-keeping template which you might find useful for recording the above information.