The MDA licenses Agricultural Pesticide Dealers who offer for sale or sell agricultural pesticides in or into the state of Minnesota to a Minnesota end-user. A sale of an agricultural pesticide by a dealer without a valid Dealer License is a violation of the Minnesota Pesticide Control Law (Chapter 18B.316) and may be subject to enforcement action. Agricultural Pesticides are products with Worker Protection Standard labeling as required by 40 Code of Federal Regulations Parts 156 and 170. Licensed pesticide dealers already licensed to sell restricted use pesticides (RUP) or bulk pesticides do not need to obtain an additional license. Agricultural Pesticide Dealers must report sales and pay fees associated with agricultural pesticides sales to the Minnesota Department of Agriculture.
The MDA web page has information about dealer requirements. The department hopes this document provides useful guidance about dealer licenses and the related requirements. If you have additional questions, please use the contact information and resources provided.
Persons selling agricultural pesticide to end-users for use in Minnesota must invoice end-user customer at purchase, MN Gross Sales Fee at a rate of 0.55% of the sale price and the ACRRA Surcharge at a rate of 0.32% (Note: ACRRA Surcharge assessed fees decreased effective 1/1/2024.) of the sale price of agriculture pesticide products sold. Dealers must collect the fee and surcharge totaling at a rate of 0.87% and pay those fees and surcharges collected to the Minnesota Department of Agriculture annually.
Dealers collect and pay Minnesota Gross Sales fee and ACRRA surcharge for sale of agricultural pesticides only. Dealers do not charge or collect Minnesota Gross Sales fee or ACRRA surcharge on sales of non-agricultural pesticides, other products, chemicals, shipping or service fees.
No, these rates are stated in Minnesota Pesticide Control Law. Dealers may not set or collect a different percentage rate. The correct percentage rates are:
- Minnesota Gross Sales Fee rate is 0.55%
- ACRRA Surcharge rate is 0.32% (NOTE: ACRRA Surcharge rate decrease effective 1/1/2024.)
Each licensed pesticide dealer location must report sales and pay applicable fees to MDA by January 31st following the year of sale. Dealers must report and pay applicable Minnesota Gross Sales fees and ACRRA surcharges on their total annual gross sales of agricultural pesticides. If you have multiple dealer licenses for several locations, each dealer license reports and pays fees for their sales separately. Dealers must also renew their license application and pay license renewal fees before January 31 each year to avoid a license renewal late fee of $75.
For each license, dealers will submit an electronic report of their annual agricultural pesticide sales to the MDA via a reporting application on the department’s web page. The web application will calculate fees and surcharges owed by the dealer and provide electronic payment or payment by check options.
The MDA recommends that dealers for each license organize their agricultural pesticide sales data before they enter the report application. We recommend creating a table or spreadsheet that contains required report elements. For each agricultural pesticide product sold, the required elements are: EPA registration number or the MDA product ID number; product brand name; total quantity in standard units (Gallon [wet] or Pound [dry]); and total annual agricultural pesticide sales dollar amount for each product.
Once in the reporting application, agricultural pesticide sales may be added one product-at-a-time or uploaded from your system as a complete sales product file. Detailed uploading instructions are available.
The MDA has created an option which allows a dealer to import their data directly into our system. The MDA has prepared basic file specifications to formulate an upload file and will provide the specs to interested dealers.
Licensed pesticide dealers can pay fees via the web using credit card or electronic check payment at the time they submit their electronic sales report. Dealers can also mail in a check or money order for fees owed with a copy of their sales report summary page to the Minnesota Department of Agriculture.
Agricultural pesticides have a box on their label with text "Agricultural Use Requirements".
The MDA Registered Product Search web page is a source where you can find product information. Various searches are available based on EPA registration number, company name, or product name. The list of pesticides includes an agricultural pesticide column; when a Yes appears in the column the product meets the agricultural pesticide definition. Persons may also contact the MDA’s registration program at 651-201-6583.
Check the Registered Product Search database at the MDA Web Site.
Dealers must keep records of their purchase, sale, and distribution of agricultural pesticides made in and into Minnesota for a period of five years, including any made from a branch office. All pertinent records need to be available to the MDA upon request for audit purposes. An audit program was created to ensure uniform dealer compliance with dealer licensing, sales distribution and payment of Minnesota Gross Sales Fee and ACRRA Surcharges on agricultural pesticide end-user sales. A State auditor is assigned to carry out this program.
