Introduction
In 2011, the Virginia General Assembly amended the Fertilizer Law to require certain businesses and government agencies to submit an annual report to the Commissioner of the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services listing the total acreage or square footage by zip code of nonagricultural lands receiving lawn fertilizer and lawn maintenance fertilizer. The annual report is based on the calendar year (January 1 to December 31 of each year).
For more information, click on the following links:
Virginia Fertilizer Law (see Section 3.2-3602.1.B)
Regulations for the Application of Fertilizer to Nonagricultural Lands(see Section 2VAC5-405-100.B)
Who is required to submit the annual report?
The Virginia Fertilizer Law requires that the following two groups annually report the acreage or square footage of nonagricultural lands to which they applied lawn fertilizer or lawn maintenance fertilizers:
1. Fertilizer contractor-applicators and licensees who commercially apply lawn fertilizer and lawn maintenance fertilizer to more than a total of 100 acres of nonagricultural lands annually,
2. Employees, representatives, or agents of state agencies, localities, or other governmental entities who apply lawn fertilizer and lawn maintenance fertilizer to nonagricultural lands.
Note: Multiple fertilizer applications to an area are not reported as additional acreage/square footage for each application (Example: one acre yard receiving four fertilizer applications in a calendar year is reported as one acre, not four acres).
How to Submit a Report
The online Annual Turf Fertilizer Reporting Tool provides for the annual reporting of fertilizer applications to the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services.
To submit the reports, the business or government entity establishes an online account. Once established, the account can be used in subsequent years for fertilizer application reports. The account can also be accessed multiple times to add, edit, delete or save fertilizer application data.
