Pesticide Applicator Licenses

To apply restricted use pesticides to any outdoor area in Florida not associated with buildings or public health pest control, you must have a pesticide applicator license issued by the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (FDACS).

Restricted use pesticide licenses are not valid for:

• Residential applications,
• Structural pest control,
• Application within 10 feet of any buildings, or
• Public health pest control (mosquito control, etc.).

If you need a license for residential or structural pest control, please see our Pest Control Licensing and Certification page.

For a Public Health Pest Control License, please see our Mosquito Control Licensing page.

For assistance in determining the type of license needed, see our Certification and License Requirements Chart [ 43.1 kB ] .

Types of Pesticide Applicator Licenses

Private Applicator License

Who Needs This License?

This license is for people who use restricted use pesticides to produce an agricultural commodity on property they own or rent, or on property owned or rented by their employer. Qualifying sites include farms (including sod farms), ranches, groves, nurseries, gardens, aquaculture operations and livestock production operations.

Substitutions

A commercial applicator license may substitute for a private applicator license for uses (categories) covered by the commercial license. 

Public Applicator License

Who Needs This License?

This license is for people who are employed by a government entity (federal, state, county, city, etc.) who use restricted use pesticides on the job for agricultural or related applications. This license is valid only for work performed for the government agency during the course of employment.

Qualifying individuals include employees of:

• Municipal electric companies,
• City and county parks,
• Government-owned railways,
• State and federal highway departments, and
• State universities.

Substitutions

A commercial applicator license may substitute for a public applicator license if desired. However, liability issues should be taken into consideration and discussed with the employer before making this decision.

Commercial Applicator License

Who Needs This License?

This license is for people who use restricted use pesticides on any agricultural or related area not associated with buildings for any purpose other than as given above for private and public applicator licenses.

Uses include:

• Contract applications for other people to outdoor sites not associated with buildings, and
• Any other outdoor use not associated with buildings that is not involved in agricultural production and is not for a government employer. 

Examples of commercial applications are:

• Golf course turf maintenance,
• Contract aerial application services,
• Aquatic weed control service,
• Park or cemetery maintenance,
• Highway right-of-way maintenance by contract application, and
• Custom application of pesticide/fertilizer blends to agricultural lands.

License Categories, Exams and Study Materials

View our License Categories, Exams and Study Materials [ 134.5 kB ] document to learn about applicator license types and categories for Florida, exams required for certification and licensing, study or reference materials recommended for each exam, and sources for the reference materials.

Aerial Pesticide Applicator Information

License Requirements

Anyone who applies any pesticide (restricted use or general use) by aerial delivery in Florida for any purpose other than public health pest control must have a pesticide applicator license including the aerial category issued by FDACS. The license type may be commercial (for hired or contract applications) or public (for work-related applications made by government employees). Aerial application is not authorized for private applicators.

Aerial applications for public health pest control (mosquito control, dog fly control, etc.) require a Public Health Aerial Pest Control License issued by the FDACS.

Category Requirements

The agricultural aerial category is a primary category and is the only category required for aerial applicators who do not make pest management decisions (determining when to treat and which pesticides to apply). Aerial applicators licensed in the aerial category alone are licensed only to apply pesticides aerially according to the directions of another person who has made the pest management decisions. Aerial applicators who make determinations of when treatments are needed and which pesticides to apply must be licensed in all work-related categories (agricultural row crop, agricultural tree crop, forestry, etc.) in addition to the aerial category.

Aerial applicators licensed in the agricultural aerial category only are not authorized to make ground application of restricted use pesticides. Applicators must be licensed in the appropriate ground categories (agricultural row crop, agricultural tree crop, forestry, etc.) to make ground application of restricted use pesticides to these sites.

Find information about aircraft registration and security.