According to a press release issued by the USDA, President Donald J. Trump and U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue announced up to an additional $14 billion dollars for agricultural producers who continue to face market disruptions and associated costs because of COVID-19. Signup for the Coronavirus Food Assistance Program (CFAP 2) began Sept. 21 and will run through Dec. 11.

“America’s agriculture communities are resilient, but still face many challenges due to the COVID-19 pandemic. President Trump is once again demonstrating his commitment to ensure America’s farmers and ranchers remain in business to produce the food, fuel, and fiber America needs to thrive,” said Secretary Perdue. “We listened to feedback received from farmers, ranchers and agricultural organizations about the impact of the pandemic on our nations’ farms and ranches, and we developed a program to better meet the needs of those impacted.”

Continue to the full announcement here.

Dramm, according to a press release, is upgrading its irrigation control line with the introduction of the ProLine Irrigation Controller Series. Per the release, the “ProLine increases the number of outputs available while still remaining modular and expandable,” per the company.

The ProLine offers basic timed irrigation cycles with multiple programs and start times. The ProLine, with four available programs, allows for three of these to be active at one time, shortening irrigation cycle times when water is available. The ProLine, according to Dramm, offers daily watering selection and manual functions allowing the grower to activate either a single valve or an entire program easily when needed. Seasonal adjustments allow for all irrigation cycles to be increased or decreased easily, without having to reprogram each valve.

Using an added AirCard and cellular service, growers can monitor and manage their irrigation from a smartphone app. This feature allows the user the ability to run a manual cycle, increase or decrease watering times and more, from across the facility or across the world.

For nearly 30 years, Kurt Becker has been part of the Dramm team. After working his way up through the ropes, he’s now serving as executive vice president of commercial products and sales marketing. Over the years, he has helped widen the range of spray equipment, and he currently works alongside chemical manufacturers to gain insight on new products. Since Dramm specializes in a wide range of tools for pesticide application, Becker’s decades-long employment has positioned him as an expert in the industry.

According to him, the first thing to consider regarding chemical application is the type of equipment a grower has.

“There are different ways to apply chemistry,” Becker says. “You have the spray route, which would be primarily targeting foliage, and you have drenches which [are] going to be more of a soil-type application to the root zone of the plant.”

When drenching, Becker advises growers to measure dosages, especially when a systemic insecticide is being used. “Those tend to be expensive, so you don’t want to spill them on the ground. You don’t want to over apply them. Some of those can be damaging to the plant if you do over apply them,” he says. “The right amount makes a huge difference.”

While Dramm has specialized equipment for drenching, Becker recommends hydraulic sprayers and injectors to saturate the soil. He advises hydraulic sprayers because they have multiple uses and allow growers to target specific plants without spraying the greenhouse.

“Hydraulic sprayers are always one of the first tools we recommend growers to have because [they’re] usable in so many ways,” he says. “It’s like a Swiss army knife. You can do a lot of things with it.”

Injectors are also good tools because they automate the process of applying plant additives and chemicals while minimizing labor costs and exposure to the treated areas.  

As for foggers, Becker says he generally sees them used on a regular basis, more so than hydraulic and targeted sprayers. But he says equipment use is contingent on the type of applications.

“We also advise growers to have a fogger at their disposal because they generally reduce labor dramatically without sacrificing results,” he says. “In fact, they normally increase results.”

What will not increase results, however, are frequent misapplication methods. A common habit he sees is growers using the same stroke method at two different distances — 2 feet and 8 feet away. If a grower is spraying 2 feet and 8 feet away simultaneously, the closer plants will inevitably retain more chemicals and receive a higher concentration on top, while the plants 8 feet away will not.

To combat this, Becker suggests choosing a distance to target, which allows growers to see the most open entry to the side of the plant. For visual reference, he compares the process to rain.

“Plants are basically like umbrellas,” he says. “When rain falls from the sky, it hits the plant and runs off the leaves to the outside. That’s the reason bugs like living underneath — they don’t get washed off by the rain. Because of this, they hide underneath the leaf and lay their eggs on the underside of the leaf. If you’re spraying 2 feet in front of you, you’re hitting the top of the plant. If you spray 8 feet away from you, you’re probably spraying more on the side of the plant, which is going to help you hit the undersides.” 

To ensure even application underneath plants, Becker says growers should spray at an 8-foot arc. This will not only result in better crops but will prevent pests from surviving and building resistance in underapplied areas.

To ensure proper staff training, Becker recommends using visual aids while spraying. For example, some cards turn colors once they are wet, which lets growers see the amount of chemicals being applied.

“Once that’s done, look at the places that weren’t done well, retag the whole area and see how they can improve,” he says. “Ask questions like, ‘How can you adjust the spray pattern?’ ‘How can you adjust your technique to try and get that area to be covered better?’’’

All in all, Becker says techniques will depend on the tools a grower has, but the education surrounding chemical application can be applied all around. “Dramm’s whole philosophy is, we try to have a wide range of tools to help growers apply pesticides while making sure they’re trained and taught properly,” Becker says. “We want to make sure we can help growers do the best job.”

During Kurt Becker’s 26-year run at Dramm, he has seen a heap of equipment, products and techniques. But as methods advance, Becker says there are some practices that are underutilized. One is scouting.

“As we try to move away from labor-intensive practices, scouting has become a specific task rather than something you would see as part of the daily activity in the greenhouse,” he says. “Fifty years ago, it was fine. People were paying attention to the crop more because they were hand watering and more engaged with the crop on a regular basis. … Someone was actually interacting with the crop and seeing the pests.”

While scouting is not a complete preventative measure, Becker says it significantly reduces or limits pests in the greenhouse. He also says if growers scout more, they become more aware of pests and conscious of their patterns, and able to spray areas more frequently. 

Calendar sprays and pesticide rotation can help as well, Becker adds. While he suggests a combination of calendar and chemical sprays, he notes that routine applications can “do a better job at catching the problem.” He also says that rotating through pesticides can “keep numbers low.”

“It’s more a matter of how far you go before things get out of control,” he says. “We do like the idea of working through a schedule and basically saying this is the way to keep that pest population down in the first place.”

Scouting isn’t the only thing that has changed over the years. Becker says chemical applications have too. Now, most applications are meant to control specific problems rather than a broad spread. But 20 years ago, pesticides “nuked” everything in the greenhouse. Those no longer exist, or if they do, they are very rare and have strict rules accompanied with them, he says.

Because of this, Becker says it is easier to target specific plants. For example, growers can spray a corner of the greenhouse, 20 plants or a row and not have to treat the entire house.

While Beker shares that machinery hasn’t shifted that much, what has improved is people’s understanding of techniques and equipment, which inherently makes for more successful facilities.

“I don’t see that technology has changed but we have seen more willingness to understanding and trying different techniques to find better ways to do the job,” Becker says. “This is good for the long run.”