Tractor-Based Real-Time System for Drift Reduction and Disposition Prediction

This effort addresses an opportunity to dramatically improve the efficacy and safely of applying pesticides and herbicides to crops, by developing a real-time, onboard sprayer control system that will predict spray drift and ground deposition as they occur, providing corrective measures to mitigate drift and improve application. Combining the accuracy of existing precision agriculture tools with the ability to directly predict, control, and log spray application and drift in real-time will dramatically impact crop production, crop protection, and worker/public safety in the United States. Verification and validation of the approach and its implementation and testing on a production sprayer will demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed approach.This research will satisfy four of the USDA strategic goals by developing of a more efficient and safer way to apply pesticides and herbicides. Strategic Goal 1 (assist rural communities to create prosperity so they are self-sustaining, repopulating, and economically thriving) will be addressed by enhancing crop yields and productivity, which will lead to improved farmer profits, exports, and availability of the finished products produced from the crops. Strategic Goal 2 (ensure our national forests and private working lands are conserved, restored, and made more resilient to climate change, while enhancing our water resources) will be addressed by enabling more efficient and safer methods for applying pesticides and herbicides to protect our forests and working lands from invasive or non-indigenous species (i.e. spruce budworm and gypsy moth). Moreover, by directly mitigating the drift of applied chemicals, drift related contamination of water resources and the environment will be reduced. Strategic Goals 3 (help America promote agricultural production and biotechnology exports as America works to increase food security), and 4 (ensure that all of America's children have access to safe, nutritious, and balanced meals) will be addressed in a similar manner to Strategic Goal 1 through enhancing yields and ultimately increasing US food exports and ensuring access to safe food.