Home Grown: The importance of Aerial Application in agriculture

In this week’s Home Grown we learn more about Aerial Application also known as Crop Dusting. In the desert southwest you will see planes flying at night nearly scrapping the tops of the crops in agriculture fields. These agriculture planes fly at 130 miles per hour and as low as eight feet above the ground. During this time of the year Ag aircraft are mainly dispersing product over the fields to help reduce mildew in produce. In the fall, they use products that help worms from ruining crops. 13 On Your Side spoke to one of the best in the business, Miles Morris who has been flying these specialized planes for over 20 years. Morris grew up with his dad an Ag pilot. He said as a kid he hated flying, but now he sees truly how important the job is. “I grew up in the business and so it’s all I know. I like being a part of the agriculture community and I think we are really valuable to the industry,” Morris said. He also told 13 On Your Side that the job is not as dangerous as people may think but it is inherently a dangerous job. Morris Ag Air flies in Yuma, Roll and Blithe and overall there are about a dozen of these planes in the Yuma area. They also use helicopers in addition to these planes. Most of the time these planes fly at night because of numerous factors like wind speed, outside temperature and less activity in the field but mostly it’s because that’s just the way it has always been done in Yuma, Morris explained.