When I was a North Dakota farm kid, I thought crop sprayers had the world’s toughest job. Piloting those small planes over fields, dodging dangers such as guywires, telephone poles and shelterbelts, among many others, staying constantly alert - that struck me as extraordarily difficult and demanding.
As an ag journalist, I’ve written many times about crop sprayers, usually known now as aerial applicators. I still have a healthy repect for their skills.
I think of aerial applicators today for two reasons.
First, many of them are flying this week over Upper Midwest fields. It’s peak crop spraying season, so crop sprayers are hard at work.
Second, the FAA this week finally unveiled long-awaited rules on the operation of small, low-level drones, or UAVs. Aerial applicators have told me they’re ambivalent about wider use of drones: they understandly see more UAVs as a potential safety hazard, but they wonder if drones could be utilized in their own business and provide another source of income.
ADVERTISEMENT
I’m working on an Agweek cover story on drones and their potential in agriculture. It will run later this summer.
A final comment to the aerial applicators at work over Upper Midwest fields: I’m glad it’s you, and not me, in those planes. Stay safe.
