Editorials

In less than two months, on August 3, 2021, a milestone will be reached for ag aviation. The 100th anniversary of the first aerial application of a crop protection product will have arrived. According to the National Agricultural Aviation Association on their website dedicated to celebrating and bringing awareness to...

I met Frank Bledsoe when I first opened my flying service in Marshallville, Georgia in 1975. He was my competitor. He was already established in the business when I came along. I was young and full of energy. Both Frank and I were operating Ag Cats at the time, and...

Recently, a good friend from Idaho, (and a great scholar) made a series of posts on one of the many social media groups floating around explaining the importance of learning the ropes of our business before jumping feet first into the airplane. I read through all of the posts and...

I suppose the “big” news of the month is NAAA moving the 2021 Ag Aviation Expo from Palm Springs, California to Savannah, Georgia. As I understand it, California is still experiencing Covid restrictions that would not be beneficial to the success of the NAAA convention. The Covid environment is much...

Throughout the years, I’ve worked with many customers and consider them like family. When I started the business in 1992, Jerry and I drove around letting ag operations know about our software. We also went to southern state and national conventions. Advertising in the AgAir Update also helped get the...

While most of you, at least in the northern hemisphere, are buckling down working through the peak of the spray season, I’m sitting here in 95°F heat in Georgia planning for a 16-day trip to Brazil and Uruguay. I’ll get a break from the heat with these countries being in...

I was steak shopping the other day at the local butcher shop. I noted the price of the filet mignon at a staggering $22.99 a pound. Well, at least you are not paying for the weight of the bone. In the meat tray next to the filet was very nice...

LATN - What is it?  I look back on May with sadness. Two U.S. ag-operators lost their sons; one in a general aviation aircraft and the other in an Air Tractor. Ironically, this edition of AgAir Update features a father and two sons from Brazil with ag-operations and an aerobatic...

I’ve stated before the ag-aviation industry should embrace drones instead of viewing them as the “enemy”. My argument has always been, and still is, that the demand for the technology and dollars it would take to effectively compete with an ag-plane does not exist. However, I can foresee an ag-operator...

There are two pet peeves that I have harbored for a long time, and wanted to comment upon. In full disclosure, these peeves do not relate to ag-aviation, at least not directly. But, they do reflect upon the greenwashing of Americans and to a great degree the rest of the...