Spray drift mitigation using opposing synchronized air‐blast sprayers

BACKGROUND Pesticide drift is a serious environmental and safety concern that affects all of US agriculture. A number of mitigation techniques to reduce pesticide drift have been recommended by industry, academic and government agencies. These techniques are very costly or reduce the efficacy of the pest control product and have not been implemented by US agriculture. RESULTS When using a novel spray technique (Air‐in), pesticide drift was significantly reduced by between 53% and 99% at 7.6 m from the orchard drip line when compared to the grower standard. This technique not only reduced pesticide drift, but also maintained or improved the amount of pesticide residue deposited (by 0.7–2.6‐fold) and the percentage pesticide coverage (by 1.0–1.4‐fold) with different air‐blast speed sprayers on almond, walnut and pistachio. CONCLUSION The Air‐in technique shows great promise in reducing pesticide drift while maintaining or improving pesticide coverage with minimal cost to the grower. Pesticide drift is a serious environmental and safety concern that affects all of US agriculture. A number of mitigation techniques to reduce pesticide drift have been recommended by industry, academic and government agencies. These techniques are very costly or reduce the efficacy of the pest control product and have not been implemented by US agriculture. © 2020 Society of Chemical Industry