AERIAL APPLICATION

Aerial application is often the only, or most economic, method for timely pesticide application. It permits large and often remote areas to be treated rapidly, far faster than any other form of application.

Aerial application is conducive to higher crop yields, as it is non-disruptive to the crop by treating above it and not within it. A study by a crop protection product manufacturer of applications on corn showed aerial application increased yield 8 percent more than ground application.

When wet soil conditions, rolling terrain or dense plant foliage prevent other methods of treating an area, aerial application may be the only remaining method of pest treatment. 

There are 347 million acres of cropland used for crop production in the United States. Taking into account some crops are treated more than once during a season, aerial application treats an estimated 28 percent of this cropland.

The agricultural aviation industry treats 127 million acres of cropland aerially each year. The five most commonly treated crops among aerial application operators are corn, wheat/barley, soybeans, pastures/rangelands and alfalfa, but aerial applications are used on nearly all crops.