EPA Awards $3 Million to Support Pesticide Inspector Residential Training Program

Released on September 3, 2024

Today, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced that the National Association of State Departments of Agriculture (NASDA) Foundation is the recipient of a cooperative agreement to implement the Pesticide Inspector Residential Training (PIRT) Program. EPA expects the total funding for the five-year period of the cooperative agreement, which began August 2, 2024, to be $3 million.

The PIRT program provides educational pesticide training to inspectors and staff of states, Tribes, and U.S. territories working under Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act cooperative agreements. The training includes information on new policies, new technologies, and tools to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of pesticide inspections.

In July 2023, EPA released a call for applications from eligible states and Tribes to carry out this work.

Under this agreement, NASDA will manage the logistics of developing and hosting several national PIRT trainings each year at different locations around the nation. In addition, a Tribal PIRT will be held bi-annually throughout the length of this cooperative agreement. With this award, the number of PIRT courses offered annually will double from previous years.

For more information about PIRT, visit the PIRT webpage.