Fieldcheck: A Tool to Protect Pesticide-sensitive Crops and Beehives From Spray Drift

By Larry VanLieshout and Tana Haugen-Brown et.al

Protecting your neighbors’ crops and beehives from pesticide drift starts with knowing where they are located. FieldCheck, from FieldWatch® Inc., is a voluntary online program designed to help pesticide applicators view potentially sensitive crops and beehives in their area so they can take extra precautions when making pesticide applications. To reduce potential offsite injury due to pesticide drift, follow all label requirements. In addition, scout the surrounding area and check the FieldWatch Map (Figure 1) prior to application to see if there are pesticide sensitive sites in the area.

Zoom in on areas of interest to see the field borders (Figure 2). Selecting a pin on the FieldWatch map brings up additional crop or apiary information and contact information for that producer (Figure 3). For example, the entry will specify if the field is conventionally grown, certified organic, or “organically grown.” “Organically grown” indicates that the crop is grown without synthetic pesticides but is not certified organic.