Become a Fair Way Certified School or Golf Course!

How to become certified

1. Submit your transparency materials (checklist below).
2. Our team reviews the underlying application logs, not just summaries, and checks the certification requirements.
3. Put your sustainability initiatives in place (list below), or show us the ones you already run.
4. A site verification visit happens before first certification.
5. Receive your Fair Way Certified badge: a digital badge image plus a ready-to-paste embed snippet for your website, linked back to your listing on thefairwaysinitiative.org.
6. Renew once a year with updated records and the EIQ reduction or a written explanation and corrective plan for review. Certification lasts 12 months. Site verification visits happen at least every third renewal; annual renewals between visits are document-based.

Verified, not self-declared. We review the underlying application logs, not just summaries. A site verification visit happens before first certification and at least every third renewal. Annual renewals between visits are document-based.

Required transparency materials

• Complete pesticide and fertilizer application records for the past 12 months: product names, active ingredients, dates, amounts and rates, and where applied.
• The same records published on the organization's own public website (not only sent to us): full records, open to everyone.
• Water information: any water testing results for ponds, wells, irrigation sources, or nearby waterways; irrigation and water-use totals for the past 12 months.
• Your integrated pest management (IPM) plan, or a written statement of how pest decisions are made.
• For nonprofits: your most recent Form 990. For schools: the district or school IPM policy or plan.
• Annual Cornell Field Use EIQ total and the calculation from underlying application logs. Year one sets the baseline; each annual renewal must show at least a 10 percent reduction in total Field Use EIQ, or include a written explanation and corrective plan for review. Publish the total on your own website.
• A prohibited-products attestation and disclosure of any restricted products already in inventory, with the one six-month phase-out plan.
• Legal-baseline attestation: all applicators are licensed as required, products are stored and handled per label and state rules, and the organization complies with applicable pesticide law.
• A short plain-language annual summary on your own website alongside the full records: what was applied, the EIQ total and its direction, and the year’s water results in brief.
• Emergency-exception acknowledgment, plus any emergency determinations, application records and public notices where applicable.
• A named contact person for environmental questions.

Measured risk

Cornell’s Environmental Impact Quotient (Field Use EIQ) gives us one number that tracks whether the risk is going down. Calculate each product’s field-use contribution from your application records: product EIQ × % active ingredient × rate × number of applications. Express the active ingredient percentage as a decimal and use consistent rate units, then add the contributions for the annual total.

Compute and publish this total every year. Year one sets the baseline. At each annual renewal, show at least a 10 percent reduction from the previous year’s total Field Use EIQ, or submit a written explanation and corrective plan for review. EIQ is a tracking tool, not a measurement of contamination or a guarantee of safety.

Prohibited products

Certified organizations may not use known or probable carcinogens (EPA, IARC, or California Prop 65 lists), reproductive or developmental toxins, endocrine disruptors, cholinesterase inhibitors, or any product labeled with the signal word DANGER. Chlorothalonil is also prohibited by name.

Modeled on Green Shield Certified, this requirement helps neighbors move toward lower-risk pest management. Chlorothalonil was banned in the EU over groundwater and wildlife findings and remains common on US golf courses.

Products already in inventory when applying get one disclosed 6-month phase-out window. After that, the prohibition is absolute outside the emergency exception below.

Emergency exception

A genuine emergency, such as a disease outbreak or public-health pest event, may require an otherwise restricted product. Modeled on the emergency provision in New York school pesticide law, this exception requires all three:

• A written determination of the emergency.
• The application recorded like all others and included in the annual Field Use EIQ total.
• Public notice of the product, date, and area posted on the organization’s website within 48 hours after application.

This certification exception does not authorize anything prohibited by law. Any legally required emergency approval or notification still applies.

Legal baseline

All applicators must be licensed as required. Products must be stored and handled per label and state rules, and the organization must comply with applicable pesticide law. Certification sits on top of the law, never instead of it.

Sustainability initiatives

Enact at least three, or show us the ones you already run.

• Vegetated buffer strips along streams, ponds, and property lines near schools and homes.
• No-spray or reduced-spray zones near school grounds, playgrounds, and neighboring homes.
• Advance public notice before spray applications: post the product, date, and area on your website before you spray.
• Soil testing before fertilizing, so nothing is applied that the soil does not need.
• Native plantings and pollinator habitat in out-of-play areas.
• Smart irrigation: soil-moisture sensors, watering in the cool of the morning, aimed sprinklers, rain barrels or captured rainwater where practical.
• A switch list: replacing highest-risk products with lower-risk alternatives year over year.

Apply