Canopy spray application technology in specialty crops: a slowly evolving landscape

Many specialty crops are susceptible to insects and diseases, and as such are reliant on regular canopy pesticide applications to achieve quality attributes required for salability. The majority of specialty crop producers continue to use antiquated pesticide application technologies for directed canopy spraying such as the radial air blast sprayer that has been associated with chemical wastage and off-target drift of around 40% and 15% of total applied spray volume, respectively. However, precision sprayers are available that result in remarkable improvements to these parameters. The wide-scale adoption of precision sprayers by specialty crop producers remains low. Reasons for the continued dominance of old technologies include risk averseness of farmers and regulatory bottlenecks. However, as farm labor becomes more expensive, less available, and consumers and regulations favor sustainably produced products, motivations to improve spray application efficiency are increasing. While there are many opportunities and future directions application technology may take, sensor-controlled sprayer technology that applies a proportionate amount of spray will likely be the primary technology of precision sprayers going into the future. © 2020 Society of Chemical Industry.