It was another great week of coverage for NAAA and the agricultural aviation industry the second week of April when NAAA CEO Andrew Moore was interviewed by celebrity ag broadcaster Max Armstrong on Farm Progress’ This Week in AgriBusiness. The interview was recorded last month on Ag Day on the Mall, where NAAA exhibited and spoke to a multitude of policymakers, regulators, media members and everyday citizens who stopped to check out the Bell 206 LongRanger helicopter on display halfway between the U.S. Capitol and the Washington Monument.

Armstrong’s interview with Moore can be found here beginning at minute 24:00 and concluding at minute 28:48. In the piece Armstrong asks about misconceptions the public has about the industry and Moore discussed the array of technologies the typical ag aircraft is equipped with—from GPS to onboard meteorological technology and imaging—that allows precise applications in prescribed doses. Moore also discussed how ag aviators’ speed and ability to treat when soil is wet, parking terrestrial vehicles, allows it to protect pest infestations quickly before they are out of control and leave the crop undamaged due to treating above the canopy and not within the crop resulting in greater yields.  He also stated that in addition to the 127 million acres aircraft treat of the total 347 million acres of U.S. cropland (not including forestry, pastureland and rangeland) aerial applicators apply 3.8 million cover crop acres that sequester 1.8 million metric tons of carbon dioxide each year. Moore also mentioned that ag aircraft are used for firefighting and for public health applications to eradicate deadly, disease-carrying insects, such as mosquitoes.

The episode of This Week in AgriBusiness was broadcast April 9 on RFD-TV. Each weekly program airs three times on RFD-TV and is viewed on 122 local television stations throughout the country. RFD-TV is available in more than 60 million households nationwide.