Northey Announces Updated Sensitive Crop Directory

by | Jan 20, 2017 | 5 Ag Stories, News

DES MOINES ? Iowa Secretary of Agriculture and Land Stewardship Bill Northey today encouraged Iowans with pesticide sensitive crops and apiaries to register their locations using the Department?s new sensitive crop registry through FieldWatch?, Inc. FieldWatch? is a non-profit company that was created by Purdue University in collaboration with interested agricultural stakeholder groups.

The new registry offers two online platforms that provide state of the art mapping features. DriftWatch? is a registry site for use by producers of commercial crops sensitive to pesticides and includes the online capacity to map boundaries around production fields. BeeCheck? is a registry site for beekeepers that designates one-mile radius boundaries around apiaries. Sensitive crop producers with apiaries may enter hive locations using either the DriftWatch? or BeeCheck? registries.

?We?re excited to offer this new directory with all of its capabilities. The mapping features, streamlined data entry, and increased accuracy of the information presented will promote better communication of sensitive site data between farmers and pesticide applicators,? Northey said. ?By improving our Sensitive Crop Registry we hope to make sure Iowa continues to be a great place for all types of agriculture.?

Commercial pesticide applicators are also encouraged to register through FieldWatch? to gain increased access to mapping features and e-mail notifications about new sensitive sites in their spray areas. Applicators can also access downloadable files including shapefiles, Excel, csv or live stream through a software provider for a $100 per year fee. Also, agriculture retailers can join for a $500 fee and $100 per location to give multiple applicators access to the downloadable files.