Commercial Fertilizer Registration

No person may distribute in this state a commercial fertilizer until it has been registered with the Washington Department of Agriculture by the producer, importer, or packager of that product. An additional registration requirement for waste-derived fertilizers was added to the fertilizer law in 1998. Waste-derived and micronutrient fertilizers must go through a Department of Ecology (Ecology) review before being registered by WSDA.

You apply by completing an application form located here.

Yes, submit the following (originals to WSDA and keep copies for your file):
 

• Form 4300A "Application for Registration of Commercial Fertilizers"
• Remittance of $150.00 per product
• Form 4300B "Commercial Fertilizer Product Registration"
• Copies of laboratory analyses of the nine metals for each product

Be certain the laboratory has used the methods required by WSDA. See the METALS INFORMATION section of the Fertilizer Registration Guidance Document.
 

• Product label: Enclose the most recent copy
• Be sure your labeling includes an acceptable Washington State Internet statement
• Ecology Questionnaire for all new products

If your fertilizer is waste-derived or a micronutrient fertilizer the Department of Ecology may require further testing of your product.

The application fee is $150 per product.

Once all requirements have been met (complete application submitted including required fees), the registration is normally issued within 60 business days.  Waste-derived or micro-nutrient fertilizers requiring Department of Ecology approval make take up to 120 business days.

Registrations are issued by the department for a two-year period beginning on July 1st of a given year and ending twenty-four months later on July 1st, except that registrations issued to a registrant who applies to register an additional product during the last twelve months of the registrant's period expire on the next July 1st. Any registration approved by the director and in effect on the last day of the registration period, for which a renewal application has been made and the proper fee paid, continues in full force and effect until the director notifies the applicant that the registration has been renewed, or otherwise denied in accord with the provision of (Chapter 15.54 RCW).

The requirements for Fertilizer Product Registration are found in Fertilizer, Minerals, and Lime (Chapter 15.54 RCW) and the Fertilizer Rules Relating to Fertilizers, Minerals, and Limes (WAC 16-200).

Upon notice by the Department to deny or revoke registration, a person may request a hearing under chapter 34.05 RCW, the Administrative Procedures Act.

Email: Fertreg@agr.wa.gov
Help Desk: 360-902-2025