By CELESTE BAUMGARTNER
Ohio Correspondent

WASHINGTON D.C. — In 2011 there were more than 1,600 aerial application businesses, said Andrew Moore, executive director of the National Agricultural Aviation Assoc. (NAAA). They cover about 250 million acres.

Approximately 25 percent of all commercial pesticide applications are done by air. “They cover not just cropland, but pasture, forestry land and rangeland,” Moore said. “We also do public health spraying for mosquito abatement and other health-threatening pests.”

The NAAA has education programs for aerial applicators in aviation safety, drift mitigation and security, he said. It offers publications that focus on maintaining professionalism in the industry. Located in Washington, D.C., it represents the industry before the federal government.

“We are heavily regulated,” Moore said. “Each product that you are applying has a label and the label includes directions on how that product can be applied, and it will include that it can’t be applied if winds are above or below a certain range. It provides other instructions as well – in some cases, you have to leave a buffer zone at the edge of the field. There are a number of instructions included that are on the label, and the label is law.”

Aerial application of chemicals offers advantages over applying with a tractor or ground rig. Farmers often discover a pest infestation and they needed it treated quickly or they’re going to lose their crop. No form of application can treat a field as quickly as aerial, Moore explained.

If there is heavy rain, farmers may still need to deal with a pest infestation, weed control or other problems. Aerial applications work well because if the field is wet, a tractor or ground rig might get stuck or damage the soil. Aerial applications can also treat difficult conditions such as rolling hills.
Aerial spraying is also not as disruptive to the crop as a ground rig in the field could be, especially in the late stages of the crop when a tractor could damage the crop. “The aircraft isn’t lumbering through the field; it is applying above it and the wing weight is pushing the product down deep into the canopy,” Moore said. “It doesn’t loosen topsoil, it doesn’t result in runoff. Those are definitely benefits.”

Aerial applicators do mosquito abatement work. It is the only application that can treat some of the boggy areas where mosquitoes might be living.
For more information, visit www.ag aviation.org