By November 26 boom sprayers greater than 3m and all blast and orchard sprayers must be tested by a registered inspector under the Sustainable Use Directive (SUD).

Sprayers that are more than five-years-old must be tested by the deadline and a full list of qualified inspectors is available on the Department of Agriculture’s website.

Under the current regulations new equipment will have to be tested every five years up to 2020, with that interval not to exceed three years following that, according to the Department.

All equipment that has passed the test must carry a Department of Agriculture (DAFM) label that will show a unique identifying number and indicate the date of test.

Ahead of testing, sprayers must meet certain pre-test criteria and these criteria need to be signed-off on in order for the test to proceed:

The PTO is fully guarded.
The power unit and sprayer are connected up and ready for test.
The sprayer is completely clean, both inside and out including filters and filter inserts.
The sprayer has an adequate supply of clean water on arrival.
There is an appropriate hard standing area to test the sprayer with clean water.
The sprayer is in a safe general condition.

There also needs to be acceptance to dispose of the water on-site i.e. only clean water will be exiting the machine.

During the test, inspectors will inspect 10 elements on the sprayer including the tank, nozzles, hoses, pump and filters.