International

Suppose California had a squadron of agricultural-aviation planes that could scramble to assist with firefighting efforts at a moment's notice. Rob Scherzinger, who chairs the California Agricultural Aviation Association, doesn't need to imagine. As a record wildfire season ravaged California, he said several dozen such pilots and aircraft sat idle....

2020 has, by all accounts, been one of the strangest years on record. Regardless of the sometimes absurd 24/7 news cycle, a global pandemic and a highly-charged U.S. presidential election, AgAir Update brought you features every month on the essential business of agricultural aviation. Traditionally, December is a month where...

INDIANAPOLIS — The Indiana Department of Health today announced plans to conduct the aerial application of pesticide to control the eastern equine encephalitis (EEE) virus in northern Indiana. The state Department of Health has reported a lab-confirmed case of EEE virus disease in a LaPorte County resident. The state Board...

Residents who live close to a piece of land on North Mountain in Kings County that was clearcut two years ago and is now slated for aerial spraying of a glyphosate-based herbicide, have “occupied” the site, and they tell the Halifax Examiner that they don’t intend to leave until the...

John Otten swoops down above fields of row crops and rangeland while dodging trees and jumping power lines at speeds over 100 MPH in a bright yellow aerial application plane during an average day at work. Otten laughed and said the most dangerous part of his job is driving to...

A senator who grew up in outback north west Queensland says over-regulation is seriously damaging aviation in the bush. Senator Susan McDonald, who was reared on a cattle property near Cloncurry, is chairing the Senate rural and regional affairs and transport legislation committee's inquiry into general aviation with a focus...

The Global Positioning Systems used in today’s agricultural aircraft are vital to any agricultural aviation operation. Precision guidance and flow controls ensure that accurate applications are made exactly where they were intended. Used properly, it is undisputed that GPS equipped ag-aircraft provide increased accuracy, proficiency and productivity. One company that...

by Mike Feeney New Zealander Ken Simpson was very well-known, as he had been aerial topdressing since September of 1952 and had many hours of low-level ag-flying experience. Ken was one of the very early New Zealand top dressing pilot pioneers. Ken was the 14th ag-pilot to be killed in...

What does a Brazilian ag operator do, who has more than forty-five years of ag-flying experience, when he looks out his office window and sees an impressive line-up of 13 Ipanemas? His experience in business tells him the Ipanemas have served him well. However, maybe he asks, “Is there another...

Swarms of locusts spreading across Pakistan are emerging as a bigger threat to the economy than the coronavirus pandemic, with the pests threatening farm output, livelihoods and food security. The locust-invasion now covers an area of 57 million hectares in a country with a total crop area of 23 million...