Ways That Farmers Can Show They Are Outstanding in Their Field
November 20, 2021 Here’s your chance to prove if you are outstanding in your field. Earn your Certified Crop Adviser (CCA) designation. Or, if you’re already a CCA, add on the 4R Nutrient Management Specialty (NMS) certification.
These certifications demonstrate competency in four ag production areas: nutrient management, soil/water management, crop management, and pest management.
Advisers who earn these certifications can be relied on to make fertilizer and pesticide decisions that take agronomic, environmental, and economic impacts into consideration.
An adviser’s professional competence in making these recommendations is even more important now in Florida than ever before due to 2020’s passage of SB 712, the Clean Waterways Act. This law requires agricultural landowners and producers enrolled in the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services’ (FDACS) Best Management Practices (BMP) program to provide documentation of nitrogen and phosphorus applications during implementation verification site visits by FDACS.
The American Society of Agronomy describes its CCA and Certified Professional Agronomist (CPAg) programs as professional benchmarks. Under the leadership of a state-based board of directors, FFAA has administered the Florida CCA program since 1995.
To become a CCA in Florida, you must pass an international exam (offered online continuously) and the Southeast Regional exam (offered twice a year); have a requisite amount of experience; document education and crop advising experience; agree to uphold the CCA Code of Ethics; and obtain 40 hours of continuing education over each two-year certification cycle.
Registration for the Southeast Regional exam closes on Jan. 5, 2022. The online exam will be taken during the week of Feb. 2-9, 2022. The International CCA Exam is now available on demand — you can take it whenever you are prepared to do so. The site to register for both exams is: CertifiedCropAdviser.org/Exams.
If you are looking for study materials for the SE Regional Exam, please email Dr. Rao Mylavarapu at [email protected].
Dr. Mylavarapu is a University of Florida Sustainable Nutrient Systems Professor and a member of the Florida CCA board of directors.
You must already have a current CCA certification to be eligible to take the 4R NMS exam.
The 4R NMS specialty recognizes the skills and experience of CCAs who have specialized knowledge in nutrient management so they can promote environmental stewardship required to achieve and maintain productive crops, fertile soils, and high air and water quality by promoting environmental stewardship via sound nutrient management practices.
The goal of 4R nutrient management is centered around building a nutrient management plan that applies the right nutrient sources, at the right rate, in the right place, and at the right time to optimize crop productivity and farm profitability and enhance environmental quality. The CCA 4R NMS Area is an additional specialty certification that builds upon the nutrient, soil, and water components of the International CCA certification, to demonstrate the Crop Adviser’s proficiency in working with the 4R concept and building it into nutrient management planning.
The Region 6 Nutrient Management Specialist exam was prepared from a set of Performance Objectives (POs) and thus will contain questions that are more in depth and complex than the exams that were taken to obtain the CCA.
The format of the 4R exam is 50 multiple-choice questions that may include scenarios where the examinee will be provided data tables, figures, etc. to work with in solving questions
Once the 4R exam is passed, an annual maintenance fee will be charged in addition to the CCA renewal, and the minimum CEUs required for Nutrient Management and Soil and Water Management will increase to 7.5 each (from 5.0).
The Region 6 POs for the 4R exam can be found at https://www.certifiedcropadviser.org/files/certifiedcropadviser/4r-nms-region-6-performance-objectives.pdf.
Certification is one way to demonstrate excellence in your field — kudos to those who have already earned these designations