Why This Photo Doesn't Scare Me: Crop Dusting
Our farm baby loves one Saturday morning show about a
chicken puppet in a costume shop.
Snuggling my girl, watching that show, a roar shook the windows one
morning.
… … … rrrrRRRRROOOOOAAAAARRRrrrrr… … … … rrrrRRRRROOOOOAAAAARRRrrrrr… … …
No cause for alarm… we occasionally see a military plane fly
over.
… … … rrrrRRRRROOOOOAAAAARRRrrrrr… … … … rrrrRRRRROOOOOAAAAARRRrrrrr… … …
… … … rrrrRRRRROOOOOAAAAARRRrrrrr… … … …
rrrrRRRRROOOOOAAAAARRRrrrrr… … …
It takes a lot to elicit a reaction from me. I may be the compassionate, bleeding-heart
type personality; however, dramatic I am not.
After the fifth pass, I grew curious.
After the sixth or seventh, I batted away scary scenarios rolling
through my mind. After the tenth, I
finally unwound the toddler and got up to look out the window.
Here’s my view.
My immediate reaction: How cool! We live and farm in a mix of hills and creek
bottoms. Unlike our friends to the
south, we don’t often see a crop duster.
What a treat!
Almost as immediately, I thought about some of my neighbors,
and so many folks in society, who would be more
terrified of the creepy chemical contraption flying towards my front door than
the end-of-the-world scenarios playing out in my head moments earlier.
And rightly so. Who
wants to be peppered in evil ag-industry fairy dust? Right...?
Why wasn’t fear my
initial reaction?
1)
Products
flown on by crop dusters are strictly regulated by the EPA (as are all ag
chemicals…by the way.)
Farmers don’t gleefully broadcast chemicals
all over their fields. For one, waste is
costly. For two, chemicals must be used
under prescribed methods, and we can get in deep trouble if we use them
improperly. Think of it as a doctor
prescribing you medicine. If you took
the whole bottle, that could endanger your health, even be deadly. However, if you take it as prescribed by your
doctor, not only is it considered safe, but very beneficial to you. These chemicals survive thorough testing over
many years. Would I care to chug the
chemical? Nope, not really, as that’s not a prescribed use for it. However, when applied as prescribed, we reap
the benefits.
2) Products flown on by crop dusters are
weighted and adhesive.
To continue with the medical
analogy, several medicines use additives called adjuvants to help them be more
effective. Many pesticides use
adjuvants, as well. Adjuvants can stick
to a chemical molecule to make it heavier (less chance of drift), make it stick
to the plant better (less chance of washing away), or a host of other
uses. I’ve known this for years, but
even as I write it, I can’t help but think, “Wow, aren’t those in ag technology
the best problem solvers ever?”
3) Crop dusters are exceptionally
accurate.
See how low they are flying? Also, what you can’t see are the specially
designed spray nozzles just for the crop duster that help direct the
spray. That, combined with flying on
days when the wind is still, minimizes drift.
Look at the pictures below of our crop.
See the left picture on the row's end where the crop is brown?
That’s where the crop duster skipped.
If the spray were drifting or wide-spread, at all, we wouldn’t see that
kind of difference in results as compared to the picture on the right in the same field, where the crop duster did spray the fungicide.
Plus, 2015 has been an extremely wet year. In the area where we live, we’ve received
roughly 125% of our normal rainfall for this time of year. The result: an overwhelming amount of
stunting and disease in our crops. Yes,
rain in July is a treat, but not when it’s 8-12 inches more than normal. Not that this would ever trump safety, but let me explain how important this crop
duster is to agriculture production and our family farm this year.
1) If not for the crop duster, our crops
would be failing.
Take
a look, again, at the photos above. The
end is a spot where the crop duster didn’t go back over like
they usually would. The corn is not
turning already (signifying that it is ready to be harvested). The corn is dying prematurely. The stalk, not treated
with the crop duster’s fungicide, is covered in corn rust. This fungus turns the plant brown, and feels
like “rust” is literally covering the plant.
Most of us remember that in order for photosynthesis to occur, we need
GREEN plants. If not for the fungicide this
whole crop would be brown… and dying.
How lucky are we to have technology
like fungicide and crop dusters? We
might lose income. A generation or two
ago, we might have gone hungry.
2) This
time, our sprayer couldn’t cut it.
We
do have a sprayer that covers the ground. You might think this is more accurate
(and when using more volatile chemicals, there are procedures to make them more
accurate), but as
I mentioned earlier, crop dusting is carefully designed. Still, we already own the ground sprayer, and
since our hills make it more difficult for the crop duster, why would we use
one?
Again,
in a particularly wet year, the ground sprayer cannot get into the muddy fields
without getting stuck. Another reason,
and our need for the crop duster this time: the corn was too tall. The sprayer would have knocked the corn down
at this point in the season. Like most
field work, spraying is incredibly time sensitive. You saw evidence of this in my previous post. If the particular weed, fungus, or
other pest is not treated at the specific growth stage indicated by the
chemicals’ usage label, it will be too late.
The pest will steal all the crops’ resources and vitality, and may even
contribute to resistant weeds. When it’s
time to spray, we cannot afford to wait for the ground to dry out or give up
because the corn it too tall.
As you can tell, many safety precautions are taken to create
safe application conditions. We’re
thankful for this technology because, otherwise, this would be a very bleak
year.
Before I go, I want to shout-out to the crop duster: as I
mentioned, their job is extremely important.
Even more, their job can be extremely dangerous. Hills, power lines, trees: all a host of
obstacles as they hover close to our crops.
From technology developers to dirty-hands to dusters, I’m feeling
grateful for everyone contributing to a safe, quality, and affordable crop.
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