The Nebraska Department of Agriculture (NDA) is encouraging commercial specialty crop growers - those who sell a portion of their crop - to sign up for DriftWatch-BeeCheck. Specialty crops include beehives, grapes, other fruits, hemp, vegetables, greenhouses/high tunnels, nursery crops, tree/nut orchards, fish farms, non-specialty certified organic and transition to certified organic crops, and an ‘other’ category, which could include plants grown for seed, cut flowers, flowers for scented products, woody florals, etc. This is a free, voluntary tool to increase communication between commercial specialty crop growers and nearby pesticide applicators to reduce incidents of pesticide drift. Growers register their contact information and crop locations on the online map, and farmers and other pesticide applicators check the map to see where specialty crops are located.
Because some pesticide labels now require applicators to check DriftWatch and take extra precautions when spraying nearby, more applicators will be using DriftWatch in the coming months. NDA would like to have the most current, complete, and beneficial registry possible by including you!
Please look at the infographic below. There are links to more information in the section for specialty crop growers and beekeepers at https://nda.nebraska.gov/pesticide/fieldwatch.html, including links to the DriftWatch and BeeCheck registration page and map.
If there are any questions at all about this service, if you thought you already had an account, or if there are problems in registering your crops, please contact Craig Romary at craig.romary@nebraska.gov or 402-471-6883. Growers without web access or email are encouraged to contact Craig, as well.