Artigo em Inglês - Application Technology in Europe

 

 

Source: Cima (2023)

    On January 23^rd, 24^th  and 25^th of 2024, another edition of IAPA (International Advances in Pesticide Application) took place in England. IAPA is an event that takes place every two years in Europe and this time the event was held in the city of Brighton, on the south coast of England, with the greatest authorities in application technology (researchers, professors, consultants and professionals) at an international level. The event itself is not a very large congress, but it is in fact a scientific congress with various presentations of research conducted recently in Europe and various research carried out around the world. In fact, we at Spraytech also presented a research paper on application volume and droplet size in pre-emergent herbicide applications. Click here to watch the full presentation.

 

Presenting our research at IAPA 2024 in Brighton, UK.

    Before commenting on the main topics presented and discussed at the event, it is worth explaining to the professionals here who are not familiar with the current context of agricultural spraying in Europe.

    For some time now, Europe has been very concerned about reducing the risks of pesticide drift in agricultural spraying. Unlike Brazil, in Europe the proximity of people, houses, towns and cities to the field and spraying operations is very small. For this reason, the use of drift reduction technologies is mandatory in many European countries. Drift reduction technologies include, for example, the use of spray tips with air induction. It's not hard to see, for example, applications in orchards with nozzles producing much coarser droplets than those used in Brazil, as well as often using some kind of directed air assistance to reduce drift losses. Here in Brazil, on the other hand, it is still common to use Ultra Fine to Fine droplets with radial air assistance sprayers for orchard applications, which have a greater potential for drift. As a result, depending on the use of these drift reduction technologies in some European countries, some requirements such as the obligation to leave buffer zones unapplied may be reduced. For example, if a farmer uses a technology that significantly reduces his drift potential, he can, in theory, apply closer to the edge of his field because the risk of drift would be minimized.

    Another crucial difference between agricultural spraying in Brazil and Europe is the ban on aerial applications. This ban has been in place for a long time, mainly because of the risks and concerns I mentioned above (proximity of people and towns to the field, related to the risk of drift).

 

Source: Brasilagro (2023)

    Although these concerns are already a reality, it is noticeable that there is an even greater concern today. Since the European Union decided to follow up the Farm to Fork program and the Green Deal as a medium to long-term strategy which, among some of the premises, requires the use of pesticides in Europe to be reduced by 50% by 2030, it is clear that professionals in the field of application technology are very concerned about how to realistically achieve these figures while maintaining good yields. I spoke to some people from different countries at the event and it does seem to be a general concern. Some even showed a certain optimism with the expectation that these strategies could be revised in the short term, but in general, researchers have already been working hard to optimize applications as much as possible.

Considering this context, it was possible to observe the following main topics during research presentations and discussions at the event:

1. Drone Applications Still in the Beginning

Source: Florida Drone Supply (2024)

    Among the topics discussed at the event, the use of drones in agricultural applications was presented by different researchers. It is worth noting, however, that the use of drones in Europe is still very restricted, being used mainly in research and still in the initial regulatory process. Many countries, for example, do not allow the use of drones in commercial spraying, while others have been slowly studying the possibility. Although applications via manned aircraft are prohibited, there is interest in drone applications because of their potential versatility, such as the ease with which applications can be conducted on flooded land during rainy periods, for example, and because of their small size which attracts less attention, additionally less maneuvering time compared to applications with airplanes and helicopters are seen positively, and due to possibility of applications on inclined areas and difficult to access areas. However, due to the already existing pressure on the drift subject and the lack of knowledge of drone usage in several crops grown in Europe, research has apparently focused more on studying the efficacy of products applied by drones on different targets, the adoption of larger water volume rates to increase coverage and deposit and in drift studies. In Asian countries such as China, and other countries like Brazil, drone applications are much more common with more research data quantity available so far. However, talking to main researchers working with drone applications that were at the event, it seems to be a consensus that we still need to better understand droplet formation and distribution process, better comprehend the effects of lower volumes of spray mixture on pesticide efficacy, understand how to correctly set and calibrate the equipment in order to guarantee more uniform, safe and effective results.

2. Variable Rate - Reducing Losses and Increasing Efficiency

 

Source: Ivanov Igor (2018)

    Another recurring topic at this past IAPA edition was on Variable Rate Application, especially in orchard and vineyard applications. Most of the studies aimed to optimize the use of pesticides by applying them where they are most needed, thereby reducing losses. Whether through remote sensing with infestation or biomass maps, high-resolution images or plant sensors, it is clear that research is seeking to reduce the amount applied and increase target efficacy. With the use of plant sensors and PWM nozzles, researchers have achieved excellent deposit results on fruit trees with less product applied per hectare, producing less drift. By mapping out the applied area in advance or by using real-time plant sensors, researchers have been observed reductions in the amount of product applied as a consequence of not spraying in areas without plants.

3. Operator Training

 

Source: Agrisustineri (2022)

    Another recurring issue regarding Europe and pesticide application technology refers to training courses and tools available to farmers and operators to learn and practice pesticide application technology. I have noticed at both the IAPA event in 2022 and this one that there is a common effort between institutions, companies and governments in European countries to develop new teaching tools and disseminate knowledge about agricultural spraying and application technology. Practical examples related to this topic include the development of educational games to encourage young farmers to take an interest in pesticide application technology. Another interesting initiative is the dissemination of online courses in different languages to various countries in the European Union and the United Kingdom.

 

4. Drift and Simulation Models

 

Source: Holterman et al. (1997)

    As a result of the high level of concern about drift in agricultural spraying in Europe, drift research is still very common. During IAPA this year, however, I noticed that renowned researchers in this area of drift studies are actually proposing some changes and updates on methodologies of existing protocols trying to capture the deposits generated in drift studies as uniformly and practically as possible. Drift studies are extremely difficult to conduct and replicate as they require the conditions of temperature, relative humidity, wind speed and wind direction to be similar between repetitions. For this reason, models that attempt to simulate drift potential already exist and are available for aerial and terrestrial applications (examples: AgDRIFT® or AGDISPTM). However, these models only consider certain configurations of spray nozzles, tank-mixtures and sprayer equipment and, like any simulation, they can't 100% accurately predict the reality that happens in field. For these reasons, we also saw at this year's event some modeling updates trying to improve drift predictions in different scenarios.

5. Other Topics - Effects of Spray Nozzles, Application Volume, etc.

 

Source: Hardi (2022)

    Unfortunately, it would be impossible to list all other topics discussed during the event in detail and with the necessary attention that each topic requires. However, in addition to the main topics I mentioned above, we saw several other research presentations evaluating the effect of different spray nozzles and application volumes on deposit, coverage and biological efficacy. One thing is for sure, these topics, as much as they may seem like "beaten" topics to some farmers, are in fact far from being fully understood given the complexity and variability of each case. The fact is that a lot of research and discussion will still be needed if we are to increasingly improve our applications, guaranteeing efficacy, safety and economy, whether in Europe or Brazil.

Thank you for reading this far and good luck with your spraying!

For more tips and information on agricultural spraying, keep following us on the Spraytech Blog and follow us on social media (Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn).

 

Author:

PhD. Pedro Henrique Urach Ferreira - Spraytech Application Technology Specialist