Dear <<First Name>>:
On March 21, the Agriculture Council of America (ACA) celebrates the 50th anniversary of National Ag Day. Since 1973, the ACA has recognized the hard work and dedication of people like you who give their all to U.S. agriculture. National Ag Day is about appreciating the role agriculture plays in everyday life and its contributions to maintaining a strong economy. It is also a time to acknowledge and consider careers in the ag industry.
FieldWatch® has the good fortune of working with many dedicated agriculture professionals, including crop producers, applicators, beekeepers and agribusiness professionals. Thank you for everything you do to advance collaboration and stewardship activities in agriculture.
Enjoy our spring newsletter,
Bob Walters
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Why Pesticide Applicators Need FieldCheck®
Applicators need reliable information to practice good stewardship when spraying. Whether you are an aerial applicator, retailer, crop producer, mosquito control applicator, vegetation management, or a turf and ornamental grass company, you need to avoid damage from spray drift. That’s where FieldCheck comes in. Developed by FieldWatch to address the needs of all applicators, FieldCheck is a specialized online registry that shows areas identified for sensitivity. These include presence and location of sensitive crops, such as specialty crops, organics, fruits and vegetables, non-GMO as well as conventional row crops by pesticide tolerance, apiary sites, and also seed fields workers in near real time in selected states.
FieldCheck is now used by more than 14,000 applicators with FieldWatch accounts and by just as many users who rely on precision agriculture platforms of technology companies that have integrated FieldWatch into their systems. For a list of our technology partners and user and sponsoring members, click the link and scroll to the middle of the page here.
While FieldCheck has broad applications in agriculture, it can be just as useful in urban or right-of-way environments. For example, in 2021, FieldWatch entered a partnership with the Washington, D.C., government to allow its 150+ urban beekeepers to make their hives visible to pesticide applicators to protect them from drift.
FieldCheck is an easily accessible, free resource. If you are not a FieldCheck user yet, you can register today at fieldcheck.org or download the FieldCheck app for iOS and Android from the Apple Store and the Google Play Store.
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Applicator Spotlight
Steve Mason, Project Manager at Co-Alliance Cooperative, Inc., for 18 years, shares how his company benefits from using FieldCheck. Co-Alliance is one of the largest agribusiness and energy marketing and supply cooperatives in the Midwest, formally established in 2002. Steve also serves on the FieldWatch Executive Board as part of the Applicator Group.
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FieldWatch (FW): How long has Co-Alliance used FieldCheck?
Steve Mason (SM): Co-Alliance has used FieldCheck since around 2015.
FW: What kind of crop protection application services does Co-Alliance provide?
SM: Co-Alliance provides dry application services of fertilizers and liquid crop protection chemicals, such as herbicides, insecticides and fungicides.
FW: What are the main benefits Co-Alliance derives from using FieldCheck?
SM: Through the use of FieldCheck, Co-Alliance applicators are able to verify nearby or adjacent sensitive crops that could sustain damage from our application if not properly applied. We avoid application in certain situations or confirm that application can be made in a safe manner in other situations. FieldWatch gives us the confidence to make good decisions with the data it provides.
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FW: What would you tell applicators who are not yet using FieldCheck?
SM: Applicators who are not using FieldCheck are taking unnecessary risks that could affect not only their company but also them personally.
FW: What motivates you to support FieldWatch as an executive board member?
SM: This is a fun project that has a direct impact on what applicators and companies, like Co-Alliance, do in the field on a day-to-day basis.
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“I really appreciate DriftWatch™/FieldWatch as a tool to prevent drift and damage to nearby properties that are registered. I call EVERY beekeeper within two miles of an application and give them at least 24 hours notice in case they may want to pen the bees up the night before the application.” ~ Indiana Aerial Applicator
“I use it to check where cotton is planted to avoid drift when spraying roadsides and pastures.” ~ Kansas Applicator
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DriftWatch Now Integrated With Beck’s FARMserver™ Technology
Beck’s has partnered with FieldWatch to integrate DriftWatch into FARMserver, Beck’s web-based tool for assisting farmers in implementing precision agriculture strategies. With this integration, producers can know where specialty crops are grown and where pollinator habitats are located in their area.
To learn more about this important partnership, read the press release.
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Don’t Forget To Validate Your Registry Information!
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At the start of each new year, we like to remind those of you who are using any of the FieldWatch registries to log into your account and validate your registry information. This helps us ensure that our registries are up to date. If you haven’t done so yet in 2023, please log in and verify or update your current registry information by visiting BeeCheck™ for registered beekeepers and DriftWatch for crop producers.
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