Regulations and changes in sprayer technology over the next few years will be geared toward greater environmental protection, say Canadian researchers.
Is the key to go faster, or slow down and use wider booms? A 150-foot boom may not be out of the question.
Federal and provincial laws will require producers to place greater emphasis on issues such as pesticide drift control. Changes in technology, although expensive, will make it easier for producers to achieve those goals, said Tom Wolf, a specialist in pesticide application technology with Agriculture Canada in Saskatoon.
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Canada may be years away from a system being considered in Germany, Wolf said, but the German proposal sets the tone for how the world looks at pesticide application.
Using global positioning systems, Germany has identified and mapped all environmentally sensitive areas within its farming regions.
“The proposal is that all applicators out in the field will be linked to a GPS that also monitors weather conditions and spray droplet size,” Wolf said.
“If the spray equipment comes too close to an environmentally sensitive area or if conditions aren’t favourable, the sprayer will simply shut down. That may be considered intrusive, but the technology already exists. Drift control will be the driver of what we see happening in Canada.”
He said all governments in the western and northern hemispheres are increasing spraying regulations.
“There are some pretty restrictive measures being considered that will affect everyone. We may not be there yet in Canada, but we are headed that way. The regulations will basically force producers to go to coarser sprays or low drift methods.”
At the same time, new developments in sprayer technology are making it easier for farmers to change spray application rates as conditions change.
“The technology is evolving to make it a lot easier to change nozzles, change sprays and change water volumes on the go from inside the tractor cab,” Wolf said.
“We have three or four technologies available commercially now. A farmer can say, ‘the wind’s come up, I need to go to a coarser spray.’ He flips a switch and he’s there.”
Adjusting spray rates, water volumes and droplet size will be a simple turn of a dial with future generation monitors and controllers.
Wolf said the technology not only allows producers to switch from a fine spray to a coarse spray, but can also increase the flow rate to treat heavier weed patches.
The downside is that the new technology is expensive and can be more complicated to operate than conventional equipment.
While a trend toward high-clearance, high-capacity, high-speed sprayer systems benefits high acreage application, technology may also make it possible to increase capacity with lower cost ground sprayer equipment.
“While each operation has to figure out machinery economics, we may be able to do more by selecting the proper nozzle and increasing the boom width on ground sprayers,” Wolf said.
“We have a unique opportunity in Western Canada to go even wider than what we see today. And the new auto-boom height levelling technology really opens up opportunities to go wider. The power is there, the liquid hydraulic pressure is there. We just need the width.”
While 90-foot and even 120- foot spray booms are common, he said 150-foot wide booms may be technically possible.
“It may seem crazy to talk about that kind of width on a pull-type sprayer, but we have the plumbing capability to make it work. I would like to see engineers explore those limits rather than trying to increase speed limits. It may be better from an efficacy and drift perspective if we can slow down and still cover the same ground.”
