NAAA teamed with the Association of Equipment Manufacturers and Agricultural Retailers Association (ARA) to cohost a May 9 field day to educate staff from the EPA’s Office of Water and the USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service about precision nutrient applications and the technologies aerial applicators use to make precise liquid and dry applications.

The demo day took place the University of Maryland’s Wye Research & Education Center in Queenstown, Md., about an hour and a half away from Washington, D.C., beginning with two aerial seeding demonstrations. First, Allen Chorman & Son pilot Mark Greenly made two seeding passes in a fixed-wing Thrush. Then Brock Heffner of Helicopter Applicators Inc. (HAI) in Gettysburg, Pa., dispensed pelletized limestone from an Isolair spreader bucket while flying a Bell 206L3 LongRanger helicopter. After the aerial seeding demos, the attendees rotated among seven stations to learn about various aspects of nutrient management.

Jeff Chorman, of Allen Chorman & Son Inc., and Brock Heffner and Joe Stambaugh from Helicopter Applicators Inc. took part in NAAA’s precision nutrient application presentations for USDA and EPA officials.

Heffner and Joe Stambaugh Jr., HAI’s director of safety, and Jeff Chorman of Allen Chorman & Son Inc. in Greenwood, Del., joined NAAA Executive Director Andrew Moore in discussing the technologies aerial applicators use to make precision applications. A PowerPoint presentation with photos and facts about aerial application’s role in precision agriculture played on a continuous loop while Moore and the ag pilot representatives explained different aspects of aerial application. HAI brought an Ag-Nav display that Heffner used to explain how pilots use GPS and how integral the technology has become for the industry. “GPS and flow control, in my opinion, are the two most important things besides the engine and the wings,” Chorman remarked during one session.

Speaking during welcoming remarks at the beginning of the day, Moore emphasized the professionalism of every sector of agriculture, from farmers to applicators to ag retailers to equipment manufacturers. “They really take their job seriously. They’re very concerned about the environment—being good stewards of the land—but they’re also concerned about taking care of their customers, ultimately which is all of us,” he said. “The professionalism and technology is really the takeaway that you’ll have from today.”

Attendees view HAI's Bell 206L3 LongRanger as Heffner points out some of the application technology inside the cockpit.

Besides NAAA’s station, other stations featured a four-row strip till unit with multi-product application technologies, a six-row 1225 planter with coulters for fertilizer, and a medium to high-clearance self-propelled sprayer. ARA covered the benefits of soil mapping, agronomy consulting and other nutrient management services. At the final station, representatives from the National Corn Growers Association and American Soybean Association discussed why farmers make the choices they do regarding cover crops and other nutrient investments.

Allen Chorman & Son pilot Mark Greenly makes a seeding pass in a fixed-wing Thrush.

The day was a great success. Counting each station’s personnel, approximately 80 individuals participated, including nearly 40 EPA and USDA employees. The EPA and USDA staffers on hand were engaged, asking many questions to learn more about our industry. NAAA’s station ended with each group getting a closer look at the cockpit of HAI’s helicopter. As one person most likely from the EPA’s Office of Water walked away from the helicopter, he marveled to a colleague beside him, “It’s like a whole world exists that I didn’t know about.”

NAAA appreciates Chorman, Greenly, Heffner and Stambaugh for taking time to participate and extends its gratitude to Helicopter Applicators Inc. and Allen Chorman & Son Inc. for making their aircraft available for the nutrient demo day. In addition to bringing its helicopter, HAI brought tables, chairs, a generator and monitor to run and display NAAA’s presentation, and two 10 x 10 canopies that provided much-needed shade. In sum, NAAA’s members brought and delivered the goods and represented the aerial application industry extremely well.

Stambaugh educates attendees about the various missions aerial applicators can perform.