Ag Aviation: 5 Trends Carrying the Industry Forward

“Although it’s a mature industry—it’s a progressive one,” says Andrew Moore, CEO of the National Agricultural Aviation Association (NAAA). 

In 2021, the aerial application industry marked its 100 year milestone. And now heading into its 101st year, Moore highlights these five trends as key drivers in the industry’s future. 

1.    The No. 1 priority for the association is working toward product availability. 

“Reregistration of products is non-stop, as everything is reviewed every 15 years,” Moore says. But he points to three recent examples in particular for making this the top concern the association is hearing from professional applicators. 

“With the current additional review of atrazine, being that EPA is altering its risk assessments, we could lose use of that product,” Moore says.

He references the recent action on chlorpyrifos and how that product is no longer used due to its risk assessment. 

“We had a fairly successful re-registration for aerial use for paraquat so we can continue to use as defoliant and weed killer,” Moore says. “We didn’t lose uses but we did lose how many acres we could treat per day.” 

He says NAAA will continue to work closely with EPA and its office of pesticide programs, and he says there is new research on technology, aircraft setup, and application methods to demonstrate how products can be used safely and effectively with aerial application. 

2.    Aerial application demand is increasing. 

“We have seen a total increase in the percent of acres treated by air,” Moore says. “According to our survey data, we treat 127 million acres of cropland. That is out of 347 million acres of total crop land.”

3.    Aerial application is part of the “Climate Smart Agriculture” trend. 

Right now, aerial applicators are seeding cover crops into standing commodity crops. Moore points out aerial applications has that timing advantage to get cover crops established earlier for soil health and carbon sequestration. 

4.    Low altitude obstacles persist as a safety risk. 

Communication towers (installed for increased rural broadband) and meteorological observation towers (notably for wind turbines) are bringing safety concerns for aerial applicators. NAAA worked on new regulations to have those obstacles under 200’ marked and logged in 2018, but the implementation by the Federal Aviation Administration is pending. 

5.    The industry may be 100+ years old, but it’s continuing to adapt.

Moore says ag aviation is a technology leader. 100% of its members’ equipment has GPS and a growing number are installing advanced instruments tools for even greater accuracy in measuring wind speed, direction and barometric pressure. 

Additionally, NAAA has members focused on unmanned aerial applications. 

“We have members that manufacture drones, use drones for application, and use drones for surveying. We are not just manned or unmanned. But I will say unmanned is small part of our industry right now. It’s one-tenth of 1%.”