Crop dusters critical to ag as - Iowa Department of

Crop dusters critical to ag as growing season continues | News, Sports, Jobs - Times Republican

https://www.timesrepublican.com/news/todays-news/2019/08/crop-dusters-critical-to-ag-as-growing-season-continues/[8/12/2019 11:35:24 AM]

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T-R PHOTO BY ADAM SODDERS A crop duster airplane piloted by Jason Barber finishes its mid-morning fuel-up at the Marshalltown Municipal Airport. Barberhad just returned from spraying fields in the Melbourne area forMeyer Agri-Air.

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agriculture know the sound of single-engineaircrafts zooming overhead, spraying corn andsoybean fields during all hours.

Those aircraft, their pilots and teams play a keyrole in ensuring crops are protected during acritical part of their growth season.

“Aerial spraying is used as a very timelymethod of applying products for plant health oreradicating insects, or in some instancescontrolling weeds in the crops,” said Wellsburg-based Meyer Agri-Air Inc. owner Joel Meyer.

While he no longer straps into the cockpit of thesmall airplanes which are a common sight inCentral Iowa skies, Meyer has decades ofexperience in piloting and the general air-spraybusiness.

“It does not roll across the ground, so it doesnot transport any diseases from field to fieldsince we’re in the air above it,” he said.

The aircraft can cover an incredible number ofacres over the course of a day, Meyer said,providing another advantage over ground-basedequipment.

In Marshall County, many aircraft fly out theMarshalltown Municipal Airport. As they dotheir work throughout the day, the pilots returnto the airfield to refuel and resupply withfungicide, insecticide or other products. Theplanes have a noticeable row of sprayers liningthe bottom of the aircraft parallel to the wings.

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agronomist Meaghan Anderson also said cropdusters are a key factor in ag this time of year,and they have a short window of time to workduring the regular crop growing season.

“Typically, we tell people that they would startspraying around tassel time,” she said. “Fromthe time it produces silks, which would happenaround the same time as tassels, you may have25 days or maybe a month to spray.”

After that point, Anderson said the benefits ofspraying against insects, fungi or other diseasesis often not worth the cost of paying for thespray in the first place.

She said one disease spraying protects against isgray leaf spot, a fungal disease. Another threatAnderson has noticed in Central Iowa fields thissummer has been the presence of Japanesebeetles at the edge of corn fields and thistlecaterpillars in soybean fields.

“In some fields, those have been more dramaticthan anything I’ve ever seen as far as insectpressure,” she said of the caterpillars.

The goal of the sprayers is to get the productfrom the plane to the canopy of the plants’leaves, Anderson said. The health of those leavesis a primary determiner in how much each cropyields.

Meyer said pilots must become experts ataircraft maneuvers to stay safe. The planes mustget low and close to the crops while they sprayand stay clear of any obstacles like trees orwindmills.



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Meyer said pilots are also careful to avoid largeevents or gatherings of people, such as schoolsor summer events like RAGBRAI.

“There are times that we can’t safely fly a fieldwith an airplane, and we may have to use ahelicopter for that,” he said.

Specifically, Meyer said the helicopter hiscompany uses is an excellent tool for sprayingamong towering windmills that have grown todot much of Iowa’s countryside. The helicoptercan fly slower and maneuver better than thefaster airplanes.

Pilots at regional airfields are working aroundthe clock during the daylight hours to keepfields shielded from multiple threats. Farmersand agriculture retailers will hope their effortsprovide a good yield in what has been arelatively difficult crop farming season.

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