Ohio Pesticide Applicator Statistics and Key Numbers

Ohio had 76,009 farms in 2022, and about 4.8 million acres of soybeans and 3.3 million acres of corn for grain. Behind that land stand the people who need a pesticide license.

The Ohio Department of Agriculture (ODA) issues those licenses, but we found no current public count of license holders, exams or enforcement cases. So this page sticks to the numbers we could source and check.

This site is an independent practice test site. Licenses are issued by ODA, not by us, and we are not affiliated with ODA or OSU.

Farms and land

176,009 farms

The 2022 Census of Agriculture counts 76,009 farms in Ohio, down 2 percent from 2017 (77,805). Almost half of them (36,556) are under 50 acres.¹²

213.65 million acres in farms

Ohio's farms cover 13,652,346 acres, also down 2 percent, with an average farm size of 180 acres.¹

3$15.4 billion in sales

Farms sold $15,412,137,000 of products in 2022, 65 percent more than in 2017. Crops made up 57 percent of sales and livestock 43 percent.¹

Farm size	Farms in 2022
1 to 9 acres	9,331
10 to 49 acres	27,225
50 to 179 acres	23,705
180 to 499 acres	9,661
500 to 999 acres	3,370
1,000 acres or more	2,717

Only farmers who buy or apply restricted-use pesticides need the private applicator license, so the number of license holders is far below the farm count.⁴

Crops

410.5 million acres of cropland

64,255 farms reported cropland, totaling 10,521,756 acres. Of that, 9,777,227 acres were harvested.²

54.83 million acres of soybeans

22,877 farms grew soybeans for beans on 4,830,774 acres, down from 5,090,532 acres in 2017.²

63.31 million acres of corn for grain

21,144 farms grew corn for grain on 3,314,064 acres, up from 3,286,205 in 2017.²

The licensing numbers

726 commercial and 7 private categories

Each commercial category is tied to an application site and sometimes to a pest type.³ The private categories follow the crops raised, from grain and cereal crops to fumigation and specialty uses.⁴

870 percent to pass

The passing score is 70 percent. Each exam has 25 to 150 questions depending on the category, and you wait at least five business days to retake one.³

95 hours and 3 hours

Commercial applicators recertify with 5 hours every three years, private applicators with 3 hours.³⁴ See our recertification guide.

10$35 and $30

The commercial license costs $35 per year, which is $105 over a three-year cycle. The private license costs $30 for three years.³⁵

Item	Commercial	Private
License fee	$35 per year	$30 for 3 years
Recertification hours	5 per 3 years	3 per 3 years
Core hours within that	at least 1	at least 1
Per category on license	at least 0.5 hour	at least 0.5 hour
Categories available	26	7
Minimum age to apply	18	18

ODA lists the minimum age of 18 as a requirement on both its commercial and its private license pages.⁶⁷ OSU adds that from January 1, 2027 you must be 18 to take the exam.⁸

111 calendar year

On the private application form, ODA says passed exams are valid for one calendar year from the exam date, and that exams are currently free.⁵

What is not published

We looked for ODA counts of licensed applicators, businesses and dealers, exams given, pass rates and enforcement cases, and did not find any on ODA or OSU pages. Older figures for license holders exist in secondary reports, but we could not open the documents, so we leave them out. Ask ODA at 614-728-6987 if you need current totals.

The Core exam question count and time limit are also not published in what we reviewed, so we do not give one.

If you plan to test, the best use of these numbers is a reality check: there are many licensed people and the exams are standard multiple choice. You can see where you stand with a free practice test.

Common questions

How many pesticide applicators are there in Ohio?

We found no current public count from ODA or OSU. Ask ODA at 614-728-6987.

How many farms does Ohio have?

76,009 in the 2022 Census of Agriculture.¹

What is the pass mark?

70 percent.³

Sources

The Census figures are from 2022 and come from archived copies of the USDA documents, because the original profile link no longer loads. Check the sources for updates.

1. USDA NASS: 2022 Census of Agriculture, Ohio state profile (archived copy) (web.archive.org)
2. USDA NASS: 2022 Census of Agriculture, Ohio, Table 1 Historical Highlights (archived copy) (web.archive.org)
3. Ohio State University Extension: Ohio Commercial pesticide applicator requirements (ANR-0140) (ohioline.osu.edu)
4. Ohio State University Extension: Ohio Private Pesticide Applicator License Requirements (ANR-0141) (ohioline.osu.edu)
5. Ohio Department of Agriculture: Private Pesticide Applicator License application (dam.assets.ohio.gov)
6. Ohio Department of Agriculture: Commercial pesticide applicator license (agri.ohio.gov)
7. Ohio Department of Agriculture: Private pesticide applicator license (agri.ohio.gov)
8. OSU Pesticide Safety Education Program: Private Applicator Testing (pested.osu.edu)