By CELESTE BAUMGARTNER

Ohio Correspondent

REYNOLDSBURG, Ohio — The Ohio Department of Agriculture (ODA) has announced a partnership with FieldWatch, Inc. to introduce a new sensitive-crop registry. The program will enhance communication between Ohio applicators and producers.

Multiple states and private companies across the country are already using FieldWatch, which is a not-for-profit company. Ohio had a sensitive-crop registry, but FieldWatch offered many new features, said Matt Beal, chief of the ODA Division of Plant Health.

FieldWatch offers valuable real-time data streaming. It allows the applicator to get the information as they go into a field. They can investigate whether there are registered apiaries or sensitive crops in the area.

It also allows beekeepers and commercial producers of sensitive crops, such as tomatoes, fruit trees, grapes and organic crops, to register and map their sites online with an easy-to-use tool and to provide contact information about their operation. Registered applicators can sign up to receive email notifications when new specialty crop fields or beehives are added to their designated state, county or areas.

“It is a voluntary program,” Beal explained. “We’re trying to communicate with each other. It is all about communication. We’re trying to make it easy for pesticide applicators to see where these sensitive locations are located.”

The new registry is free and voluntary to use, he said. Both commercial and hobby beekeepers can use the system; however, only managers and owners of specialty fields that are used for commercial production and are of at least a half-acre in size will have fields approved by the state steward.

“I can’t use FieldWatch for my vegetable garden,” Beal noted.

The good thing about FieldWatch is that it has an excellent GPS mapping system, said Terry Lieberman-Smith, Ohio State Beekeepers Assoc. president. That is so critical; the GPS improvement is of benefit to both sides. But FieldWatch does have limitations.

If an applicator is spraying a field that is more than a half-acre of flowering crop and the product they are spraying is known to be toxic to honeybees, they need to contact any beekeepers in that area. They only need to check within a half-mile of where they are applying; however, honeybees fly up to a three-mile radius.

“Also, if what they are spraying is not in bloom but the crop next door to it is, that is a potential concern for the beekeeper,” Lieberman-Smith said.

But the concept of FieldWatch is opening a door to communication. Beekeepers, pesticide sprayers and farmers want to work together, she explained. “No one wants to damage anybody else’s livestock, and that’s what honeybees are.

“The beekeepers certainly want the farmer and the pesticide applicator to be able to work together, to have bumper crops so that we can all have affordable food. It is a partnership and, hopefully, this is the right step in that partnership,” she said.

Pesticide applicators will have different options for viewing locations on the new system. All users, applicators, producers and beekeepers will need to go to www.fieldwatch.com to create an account and get started.