Overall, industry economic activity data has shown an improvement in the agriculture industry during the 2017 calendar year. U.S. ag exports increased 8 percent in 2017 from $129.6 billion to $140.5 billion. In addition, the USDA projects net farm income to be up 12.6 percent to $100.4 billion in 2017 from 2016 with an additional projection that farmers are expected to increase their production expenses in 2018. NAAA’s year-end survey in 2017 showed that operators flew 4.2 percent more hours per aircraft in 2017 compared with 2016, 314.7 hours versus 302 hours, respectively, and 58 percent of the nation’s ag aviation operators are optimistic about 2018’s prospects.

Another positive statistic from global crop protection consulting firm Phillips McDougall shows a forecast of real growth in the crop protection product market of 2.7 percent annually through 2020.

With the world population growing every day, there is an abundant supply of consumers for sustainable food, fiber and biofuel. According to the U.N., world population will increase from 7.6 billion today to 8.6 billion in 2030, and it is estimated to grow to 9.8 billion by 2050.

2017: A Year of Deregulation

When the Trump administration took power in January 2017, a central promise of the campaign was that for every new regulation implemented, two would have to be repealed. While there has been relief in stamping out many overly restrictive and unnecessary environmental regulations over the past year, which has been helpful to our industry, deregulation can be a double-edged sword. For example, there has been a movement towards relaxing regulations protecting manned aviation safety in the form of loosening tower marking and UAS safety requirements. Overall, however, it has been a net benefit for the aerial application industry.

Early in his term, President Trump signed an executive order that would rescind and replace the Obama administration expansion of what is defined as a Water of the U.S. (WOTUS), which would expand what types of waters would need a National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) Pesticide General Permit (PGP) for an aerial applicator.

NAAA has made progress as well by pushing the passage of NPDES-PGP exemption legislation in the House and prompting the Senate to conduct a congressional briefing on the subject for Senators and their staff in December with the hopes similar legislation may make it through that body. NPDES-PGP legislation is also being widely touted as a part of a regulatory relief package in the farm bill that must be reauthorized by Oct. 1 of this year. NAAA will be pushing hard for its inclusion in the farm bill as well as language giving state and federal pesticide regulatory agencies primacy in promulgating and enforcing pesticide laws so that ballot initiatives like the one enacted in the spring of 2017 in Lincoln County, Oregon banning aerial forestry herbicide applications can’t be put in place unless the whole state agrees to such a policy.

EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt decided earlier this spring to prevent the revocation of chlorpyrifos. NAAA and many ag groups have advocated for years to keep the tolerances active for chlorpyrifos, so this was a big victory given that the basis for revocation was based on unsubstantiated data that its researchers would not release supporting their health claims.

Tax reform was one of the biggest policy changes to happen this year in Washington, D.C. One draft of tax reform extended depreciation schedules for general aviation fixed-wing aircraft from five years to 12 years. Over the past two years NAAA met with many lawmakers making the case that ag aircraft operate in more rugged conditions and as such should be depreciated in a much shorter timeframe. Those efforts have paid off as the newly enacted tax law allows for 100 percent of equipment acquired and placed in service after Sept. 27, 2017, to be immediately written off, or “expensed.” This full capital expensing is expected to last through 2022.

NAAA spent a significant amount of time in 2017 on the safe integration of drones into the national airspace. NAAA continued to urge that drones meet certain requirements to ensure manned aircraft safety. An FAA registry for drones was deemed to be illegal by a federal court last year, but recent defense legislation, supported by NAAA, was enacted that allowed for the legality of the registry. NAAA was also selected to serve on several federal advisory panels suggesting policy solutions to the FAA on how to safely integrate drones into the airspace, including requirements that drones be equipped to be tracked and identified.

As the use of UAV’s become more common, NAAA crated a UAV encounter checklist on steps for ag aviators to take to ensure one’s safety, and to report a UAV encounter to law enforcement, media and insurance providers. NAAA developed a similar checklist for victims of ag aircraft shootings last year as well after a spate of ag aircraft shootings occurred in a short timeframe.

2017 Public and Industry Outreach

NAAA has needed to set the record straight several times throughout the year, when high profile and widely read publications incorrectly stated things such as how drones are far more effective and efficient compared to manned aircraft when treating crops or embellishing the health hazards posed by crop protection products. NAAA set the record straight by responding with the facts, expanding UAVs are years and years, if not decades, away from competing with manned aircraft when applying products and that products registered for aerial use are tested extensively before the EPA allows them on the market.

NAAA has also broadened aerial applicators’ reach with potential customers over the past year by equipping our website—AgAviation.org—with the “Find an Aerial Applicator” search tool. The public database allows a potential customer to type in his city, state or ZIP code to find a list of NAAA aerial applicators that have opted into the system within up to a 250-mile radius of their location. Coupled with an advertising campaign in major ag trade publications such as CropLife magazine and CropLife News e-newsletter directing readers to the “Find an Aerial Applicator” database, the number of hits to NAAA’s database jumped 57 percent!

NAAA now has more than 5,300 followers of its Facebook page and this year launched a Twitter account @AgAviationNAAA. Both platforms post almost daily promoting the benefits of modern agricultural production and aerial application’s important role in food, fiber and biofuel production, as well as our industry’s professionalism and progressivism. It’s important for us to all use social media by liking NAAA’s Facebook page, and following @AgAviationNAAA on Twitter and sharing our posts so our message can spread.

2018 Challenges and Opportunities

Ag aviation is expected to face a growing number of physical obstacles as the communications industry, tasked with providing rural broadband access nationwide, will continue to erect towers in areas ag aviators operate. Drones will continue to increase in number in ag and other rural industries as well. One of the best opportunities to address these challenges will be the legislation to reauthorize the FAA, which will need to be reauthorized by March 31, 2017. It is unclear if House Transportation Chairman Bill Shuster’s long-term reauthorization bill will have the votes to pass due to a provision that would privatize the air traffic control system. Additionally, commercial pilot training requirements are holding up the senate version of the bill. If enough members of Congress are opposed to these provisions, expect another short-term extension for the FAA ranging from six months to 1 year. 

Furthermore, the wireless communication industry is attempting to water down one of NAAA’s greatest successes, a provision included in the 2016 FAA extension bill that required that required rural towers under 200 feet and 10 feet in diameter to be marked and entered into a national database, claiming it is expensive and unnecessary. Communication tower statistics indicate there are 150,000 wireless communication towers in the U.S. today, and this is expected to increase to more than 200,000 by 2025 since 23.5 million Americans in rural communities do not have access to broadband Internet. There is a push—even as part of an infrastructure spending bill—to federally fund or federally grease the skids to ensure this rural infrastructure need is addressed.

Despite low commodity prices, there is are a bounty of opportunities for ag aviators to diversify their operations. CropLife magazine and Purdue University conducted a national survey last June of cooperatives, independent retailers and regional and national retailers performing precision ag services, and the results show significant growth. For example, those surveyed indicated that companies providing field mapping services grew from 29 percent in 1997 to 75 percent in 2017. These are services that can be done by ag aircraft, and USDA-ARS’s Aerial Application Technology Research Unit has detailed information helping ag aircraft operators equip and conduct these services. The same survey shows that those offering precision/variable rate application of fertilizer services have grown from 32 percent in 1999 to 78 percent in 2017. Again, this could provide real opportunity for ag aviators to diversity their businesses by providing crop input saving services for farmers, either by providing aerial surveying and/or precision applications by air.

2018 NAAA Aerial Application Industry Survey