NAAA Member Hosts Aerial Application Demonstration During ESA Farm Tour

NAAA members Marcus Suhn and Heath Kretschmar of Letcher, S.D., owners of Dakota Pro Air, LLC, hosted an aerial application demonstration during the third annual Endangered Species Act (ESA) Farm Tour, held Sept. 14–16 across Minnesota and South Dakota. The tour brought together agricultural and regulatory stakeholders to explore practical approaches to ESA challenges, and CropLife recently highlighted the effort in an article.

Approximately 40 participants, including representatives from EPA, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, USDA, universities, crop consultants and other agricultural stakeholders, participated in the three-day tour.

Suhn’s and Kretschmar’s demonstration showcased fixed-wing aircrafts’ full and partial boom management to control swath, swath offset and droplet spectrum. It was followed by a discussion on cockpit controls and mapping technology pilots use to navigate around sensitive areas that account for environmental factors during application.

The annual tour brings regulators, researchers and agricultural practitioners together in the field to discuss practical approaches that support both agricultural productivity and environmental stewardship. Agricultural aviation’s participation provides an opportunity to demonstrate the precision, technology and expertise aerial applicators bring to modern agriculture.