FieldWatch Board Meeting Held in Arlington, VA

In July, NAAA staff attended the FieldWatch board meeting held in Arlington, VA. FieldWatch is the non-profit company created to help applicators locate and identify sensitive areas and communicate with specialty crop growers and beekeepers. Because of the importance of aerial application in agricultural production, NAAA is honored to be one of the applicator group stakeholders represented on the board of directors. The meeting provided the board with an update on a current project updating the registries, membership numbers, and efforts to expand FieldWatch into other states.

FieldWatch is now used in 28 U.S. states, three Canadian provinces, and Washington DC. There are 53,000 individual users, 68,000 registered sites, and 2,440,000 mapped acres. FieldWatch has four different online mapping components:

• DriftWatch is intended for specialty crop growers. The site allows growers to register and map the locations of their fields. Specialty crops include fruit, vegetables, organic, conventional, and herbicide tolerant crops. DriftWatch is free to use, and registration includes the contact information so applicators can contact the grower.
• BeeCheck is a map-based system for beekeepers to register the location of their beehives and apiaries. It is also free to use and includes the beekeeper’s contact information.
• SeedFieldCheck is intended to foster communication between applicators and seed companies to identify the location and time when field workers will be present in seed production fields. It is currently only available in eight states.
• FieldCheck is the tool intended for pesticide applicators. It allows them to seamlessly access DriftWatch, BeeCheck, and SeedFieldCheck. In addition to providing a map of registered fields and apiaries, applicators can sign up to receive alerts when new sites are added to the registries.