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.
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.
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.
Aerial application does not cause soil compaction, hence preventing soil runoff.
The aerial application of crop protection products results in greater harvest yields of crops. This in turn results in less land being used for agricultural production, preserving important wetland and forest ecosystems important to carbon sequestration and habitat to threatened and endangered species.

Based on a 2019 NAAA survey, the agricultural aviation industry treats 127 million acres of cropland aerially each year.
According to the 2017 USDA Census of Agriculture 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.
Nearly 100 percent of forest protection applications are made by the agricultural aviation industry.
In addition to agricultural aviation, the industry provides firefighting and public health application services to combat disease-carrying mosquitoes.
Based on a 2019 NAAA survey, 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.