No longer is the term crop duster acceptable in referring to the professionals who apply crop protection materials from airplanes. The term was coined over eighty years ago when airplanes used dusting materials. Today, the technology has greatly evolved with highly specialized aircraft that use Global Positioning System (GPS) software, dispersal systems monitoring flow rates and calibration software.
In California, rice is grown mostly in the nine contiguous counties just north of Sacramento. Rice acreage accounts for approximately 500,000 of the over two million acres dedicated to farmland in this area. With rice grown in proximity to other crops, product stewardship is vital for maintaining crop protection materials. The California rice industry has taken proactive and protective measures to ensure positive stewardship for pesticide applications.
The term “California rice industry” extends beyond the farmers, millers and rice commission. Our stakeholders include a broad array of companies, businesses regulators and researchers. We give credit to two companies for implementing a novel approach to product stewardship.
Dow AgroSciences and Valent U.S.A. Corporation introduced preseason airplane calibration to the stewardship portfolio. The program utilizes support from the California Agricultural Aircraft Association (CAAA) and the expertise of Dick Stoltz who is certified to do airplane calibration. CAAA owns the software technology utilized to measure droplet deposition from the aircraft. The software for determining droplet deposition is the same used in the bakery industry as quality control for counting holes in bread. The droplet deposition results show where to adjust the calibration, or whether the boom and nozzle placement should be changed. Any airplane not meeting certification requirements must make adjustments, be recalibrated and retested.
This level of airplane calibration is novel to the Sacramento Valley. At first, airplane calibration was not popular among aerial applicators. It was as if they were signaled out. Now, the aerial applicators look forward to airplane calibration because it assures an additional level of quality control. From the success of the airplane calibration, other programs have evolved such as ground rig stewardship for the use of select crop protection materials.
Airplane calibration is just one piece of the process to assuring positive stewardship when applying crop protection materials by air. It is a complex process to set-up the airfield for the calibration exercises. Wind gauges are used and the droplet deposition cards must be readjusted if conditions change. The airplane lands for inspection and filling with a blank formulation of the product. Pilots make a few passes next to the airstrip. The ground crew signals all conditions are positive and the pilot makes a pass over the string and blocks holding the deposition cards to the ground.
The agricultural aerial applicators have the benefit of loving what they do, and doing what they love. Yes they deal with the elements, customers and long hours, but they are there every year providing great benefit to farmers – and ultimately consumers too.
Watch an airplane in action during the testing:
Roberta Firoved is Industry Affairs Manager for the California Rice Commission.
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