NAAA Cohosts Precision Nutrient Application Demo for EPA, USDA Officials

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.

Wisconsin's Damon Reabe Represents NAAA on EPA’s Pesticide Program Dialogue Committee

Wisconsin aerial application operator and NAAA Government Relations Chairman Damon Reabe was in Washington, D.C., last week to represent aerial applicators on the EPA’s Pesticide Program Dialogue Committee (PPDC).

 

The PPDC is an important federal advisory committee and a forum consisting of diverse stakeholders to provide feedback to the EPA’s Office of Pesticide Programs on various pesticide regulatory, policy and program implementation issues. Stakeholders include academia, state and local regulatory officials, environmental activists, grower groups and crop protection product manufacturers.

 

Having an NAAA representative on the PPDC is important to the aerial application industry, particularly in light of efforts to push: 1) unnecessary and burdensome language on pesticide labels; 2) drift reduction technology protocols; 3) water permits; 4) proposed regulatory changes to the Worker Protection Standards for pesticide applicators and certification for pesticide applicators; 5) endangered and threatened species criteria involved in the registration of crop protection products; 6) protective measures for pollinators that the agency is considering; and 7) a variety of other regulatory proposals related to pesticides that the Agency expects to release soon.

 

A major topic of discussion was the minimum age requirement for pesticide applicators. An ag labor representative on the PPDC expressed shame on the EPA for stating that it is planning to take comments on potentially lowering age requirements from 18 to 16. The Obama Administration raised the requirement two years ago resulting in labor shortages. “One point of clarification on this particular rule is that there is a current exemption for family members of farmers to get trained to handle restricted use pesticides at the age of 16,” said Reabe at the meeting and addressing the labor representative’s statement. “At the last meeting I pointed out that aerial application companies are typically small family owned companies, and we were interested in having the provision of family members that applies to farms be applied to our small business because they operate much like farms.”

 

A notice of proposed rule making on minimum age requirements is expected in August or September for formal comments to be submitted to the agency.

 

During a discussion on pesticide resistance, Reabe was able to explain to members the link between preventing resistance and aerial application, saying, “I just want to make sure there is a broader look during the registration process at the speed at which resistance develops when you cannot make an application to control a pest in a timely manner, and how that relates to aerial application, we want to make sure the Office of Pesticide Programs is keenly aware that that’s a tool that is used by integrated pest management practitioners and it’s an important tool because obviously there are going to be scenarios where soil conditions aren’t going to allow for ground application, and if the producer does not have the opportunity to control that particular pest at that critical time, the likelihood of there being resistant survivors increases.”

 

Reabe also drew connections between buffer zones and pest resistance. “The use of buffer zones in and of itself is one of the most effective ways to speed up pesticide resistance because you are going to expose pests to low doses of the pesticide, which is in fact how pesticide resistance is developed. So that needs to be a major consideration when making these applications,” said Reabe.

 

The PPDC also discussed the registration process for biopesticides, and Reabe stressed the importance of label uniformity across both conventional and biopesticide products. “The aerial application industry is very interested in biopesticides, and we think that our industry is going to play a very critical role in getting those products out in a timely manner so that they are effective.... Having these labels be of a format that is extremely similar to the conventional products that we are using, it will simply make them easier for us to find the information so we can handle the products appropriately,” Reabe said.

 

The next PPDC meeting will be held in October. Many participants expressed interest in further discussion of biopesticides.

 

Damon Reabe, Wisconsin aerial applicator (middle), sits at the table with other stakeholders involved in pesticide policy at the most recent EPA Pesticide Program Dialogue Committee meeting.

House Conservatives Tepid on Support for Farm Bill Despite Regulatory Relief Provisions

House Democrats have made it clear they will oppose the 2018 Farm Bill because of the proposed changes to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), more commonly referred to as food stamps. However, many conservatives in the chamber are lukewarm toward the bill as well because they feel SNAP reforms don’t go far enough.

 

Rep. Mark Meadows (R-NC), chairman of the conservative House Freedom Caucus, signaled some modifications would be necessary to get conservatives’ support. “I don’t know that there’s an overwhelming issue, I think it’s just modifying the existing farm bill to make sure it reflects conservative principles,” said Meadows. “With some modifications I’ll be a yes,” he added.

 

Meadows was not specific on exactly what modifications conservatives are looking for.

 

The biggest change in SNAP comes in the form of work requirements. Able-bodied adults with no dependents between the ages of 18 and 59 would be subject to a weekly 20-hour work or work training requirement. Democrats on the agriculture committee say the work and work training requirements are not feasible and would unfairly remove people in need from the SNAP rolls.

 

The 2018 Farm Bill is expected to cost $860 billion over 10 years, with about 70 percent of that funding going toward SNAP. However, some conservative and libertarian groups such as Americans for Prosperity and Freedom Partners oppose the bill for issues beyond SNAP. The groups are supportive of any SNAP reform but take issue with other parts of the bill, such as crop insurance and conservation programs. The groups claim the bill is “rife with corporate welfare” and includes provisions that benefit owners of large agricultural businesses over the average taxpayer.

 

NAAA, along with other ag industry partners, recently sent a letter to House Agriculture Committee Chairman Mike Conaway (R-TX), as well as Senate Chairman Pat Roberts (R-KS), expressing support for the bill due to the enormous amount of regulatory relief it would provide—specifically, Title IX of the Farm Bill which relates to the registration and use of pesticides. Title IX contains:

• A fix for the duplicative National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit by eliminating its requirements for pesticides registered under the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA).
•  Much needed improvements to endangered species consultation and the pesticide registration process under the FIFRA.
• Language on cooperative federalism advancing states as coregulators of pesticides, but prohibiting local or county governments from advancing pesticide rules, such as Lincoln County, Oregon’s efforts last year banning aerial application of herbicides to forestry.

The House bill also contains funding for rural broadband programs. NAAA made sure the farm bill’s committee report contained the following language to ensure the proper marking of towers under 200 feet in rural areas:

“As the USDA develops financing, policy and other aspects related to rural broadband development, the Committee requests USDA take into account Sec. 2110 of the FAA Extension, Safety, and Security Act of 2016. This will ensure communication towers providing broadband services in rural areas that meet the specifications described in Section 2110 are properly marked and entered into a FAA database to protect the safety of aerial applicators, aerial firefighters, public health applicators, medevac units, law enforcement and other low-flying aircraft.”

The Senate is drafting its own version of the farm bill that will likely be more bipartisan and without changes to SNAP because 60 votes are needed to move the legislation forward for a final vote, requiring an additional nine votes from Democrats and perhaps Independents in the Senate. NAAA is working with industry partners and Senate staff to ensure the same regulatory relief provisions are included in the Senate’s version of the bill.

2018 Membership Directory & Annual Report Drops

The 2018 NAAA Membership Directory & Annual Report has mailed. Most members should receive their copy within the next week.

 

The NAAA Membership Directory & Annual Report is an indispensable asset, and as the title suggests, it is only available to our valued members. Speaking of which … since previous versions of the directory served as de facto annual reports, we made it official this year by adding “Annual Report” to the title. You will find NAAA’s 2017–2018 annual report, which reports on the association’s activities over the last year-plus, along with membership and public relations resources in one convenient section, beginning on pg. 132.

 

At 236 pages, this is our largest membership guide yet—packed with more resources than ever. As always, it is filled with valuable information, such as operator and pilot contacts, as well as contact information for the premier suppliers of parts and services to the industry. Other items of interest include details about NAAA’s NPDES pesticide general permit compliance resources and our issue brief on unmanned aircraft systems; checklists for how to respond in the event of a UAV encounter with an ag aircraft and for pilots fired upon while operating an ag aircraft; as well as details on numerous education, training and outreach resources available to NAAA members at little to no cost. The directory also contains several useful forms, including the NAAA Membership Application, NAAREF Donation Form, the BASF Operation S.A.F.E. Incentive Program/NAAA Member Rebate Application, NAAA Awards Nomination Form, and the 2018 NAAA “Ag Wings of Tomorrow” Scholarship Application.

 

We have gone to great lengths to ensure the accuracy of our membership listings, but recognize that perfection is a moving target. If your contact information has changed, you can update it at any time by logging into your member account at AgAviation.org. Enter your username and password in the upper right corner and then click on “Your Account” to get started. Hint: Don’t forget to click SAVE CHANGES at the bottom of the page to record your changes. Those changes will sync in real time with NAAA’s Online Member Directory.

 

While you’re at it, add a headshot or company logo to your profile and become one of the faces of the aerial application industry. If you have any problems logging into NAAA’s website, call (202) 546-5722 and we will be glad to help.

Book Hotel Room for the 2018 Ag Aviation Expo

Join NAAA for our 2018 Ag Aviation Expo in Reno, Nev., Dec. 3–6. We offer you networking, education and fun at the Ag Aviation Expo and in a rejuvenated city. NAAA’s room block is at the Atlantis Casino Resort Spa, which is connected to the Reno-Sparks Convention Center via a skybridge. 

Experience a new Reno! This rapidly changing city has become ground zero for a new technology boom as many companies have moved to Reno, including Tesla, Apple Cloud, a division of Microsoft and many more. Because of this, the city has also seen a boom in amazing restaurants, microbreweries and bars, shopping and nightclubs. Having a new vibrancy all its own, Reno is a cool and fun place to hang out.

Save the Date for the 2018 NAAA Ag Aviation Expo

• Dates: Dec. 3–6, 2018
• Location: Atlantis Casino Resort Spa and Reno-Sparks Convention Center
• Schedule of Events: Current schedule here. Subject to change.
• Hotel: Hotel Details Below
• Attendee Registration: Will open July 1
  
• Exhibitor Booth Sales: Will open July 12 for 10x10 and 10x20 spaces. Email Lindsay if you’d like a large booth space (aircraft, island or 10x30+) or plan to be a Diamond or Platinum sponsor.
• Sponsorship Opportunities: Sponsorship opportunities here. Please email Lindsay to discuss your sponsorship! We offer sponsorships for all budget sizes.
  
• Auction Donations: Thank you to Pratt & Whitney Canada for donating a PT6-34AG engine to this year’s NAAA Live Auction. While we’re still several months away from the Ag Aviation Expo, but it’s never too early to donate an item for the Live and Silent Auction. The earlier you inform us of your auction donation, the more advertising you’ll receive on the NAAA website and in NAAA publications. Support the aerial application industry by donating an item today. Email Lindsay with your donation details.
  

Book Your Hotel Room

Atlantis Casino Resort Spa is a world-class, Four Diamond resort destination. A splendid oasis created for relaxation, celebration and rejuvenation, the Atlantis has always been a favorite resort destination for travelers near and far. Recognized for luxurious accommodations, a world class revitalizing spa and salon, award-winning dining and fun casino action.

Atlantis Casino Resort Spa

• Rate: $109/night + taxes (NAAA has negotiated to waive the resort fee. Included in your room rate is complimentary in room Wi-Fi or wired internet, self-parking, use of fitness center, use of indoor pool, extended check out time of 12 p.m. and complimentary airport shuttle service)
• Reservations: Book Online Here or call (800) 723-6500 and reference the NAAA Convention (SNAA18). Online reservations require a deposit of one night’s room charge + taxes. Call-in reservations will not be charged a deposit, but require a credit card to hold reservation.
  
• Block Deadline: Monday, Nov. 12
• Hotel Address: 3800 S. Virginia St. Reno, NV 89502
• Airport Shuttle: Atlantis provides a free airport shuttle that runs at 15 and 45 minutes after the hour from 5:15 a.m. to 12:45 a.m. leaving the airport. The shuttle leaves the hotel on the hour and 30 minutes after the hour from 5 a.m. to 12:30 a.m.
  

More about the Atlantis and Reno:

• Trip Advisor has rated the Atlantis as a number one hotel and has also rated their Spa Atlantis as the number one activity in Reno.
• Forbes Travel Guide has given Spa Atlantis the distinguished Four-Star Award and Spa Atlantis has been selected one of the Top Ten Spas in the World by Spa Finder Magazine
• Forbes has given the hotel restaurants, the Atlantis Steakhouse, and Bistro Napa a “Recommended” status which deems them as the ‘best within our destination.’ Worldwide, there are only 159 Recommended hotels and only 68 Recommended restaurants. The Atlantis is the only property in Reno awarded this honor. 
• The Atlantis was rated by USA Today Travel as the No. 1 Rated Casino Resort outside of Las Vegas and the Travel Channel also rated Atlantis one of the nation’s top casinos 
• The Atlantis is a AAA Four Diamond Resort 
• There are now more than 120 flights per day in and out of Reno-Tahoe International Airport
• Enjoy a pre-or post-Ag Aviation Expo vacation in beautiful Lake Tahoe
  

NOTE: No one from (or on behalf of) the Atlantis hotel or NAAA will contact you to book a hotel room. NAAA recommends that you make your own hotel reservations using the information on this page. Do not book a room with any company that calls you directly.