Program Technician Leslie Morgan in the Oroville, Calif. Farm Service Agency snapped this photo of her son David Duncan watching his ag pilot grandpa Bud Harrison taxi down the runway. “I am proud to say my brother, Mark ‘Cropgun’ Harrison, carries on the family tradition and is considered the top pilot in the Northern California,” said Leslie.
This image comes from the California FSA team’s photo contest, which encourages staff to share images from their own working lives and the lives of their client farmers and ranchers.
eslie provides some personal insight into the high-risk life of the ag pilot: “Crop dusting is regarded as the third most dangerous profession in the world. Pilots are required to log countless continuing education hours yearly to maintain their license. To meet the demands of ever-growing environmental regulations, today’s planes are equipped with GPS “Sat-Lock” and targeted nozzle systems to reduce over-spraying and prevent drift.”
The general public may only think of pesticide in relation to crop dusting. In addition to controlling insects, bacterial diseases, and weeds, crop dusting can be used to apply rice seed and fertilizers, delay fruit ripening and increase or decrease the fruit set on plants or trees. Custom-fitted helicopters have been used for aerial spraying and specialty growers are now experimenting with small, remote-controlled aircraft for precision applications on smaller acreages.
— by Paul Lehman, public affairs officer, FSA West Region
