LISTEN: World of Agriculture 2-15-17
The relationship between pesticide applicators and specialty crop growers can get sour at times. This is mainly due to drift. A nonprofit company now offers an online mapping registry for Iowa specialty crop growers, honeybee producers, and pesticide applicators. They hope this will help make everyone more aware of their surroundings.
Stephanie Regagnon is CEO of FieldWatch.
?We are very excited to bring Iowa on board. It has been a beautiful relationship between the Agribusiness Association of Iowa, the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship as well as other stakeholders in the state to bring everyone together to make sure we are communicating on the ground to avoid issues, but also be good neighbors.?
Iowa just joined the program six weeks ago.
?Iowa launched right after the new year and we have seen exceptional signups already which is definitely a sign of everyone working together in the state prior to launch. We have really high hopes but already seeing great numbers.?
According to Field Watch stats as of February 11th, 71 applicators and 536 producers (876 sites and 15,000 honeybee sites) have registered.
Other states participating include: Colorado, Delaware, Kansas, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Mexico, North Carolina, and Wisconsin.
Regagnon spoke at the Agribusiness Showcase and Conference in Des Moines Tuesday.
