The Rural Voice, 1991-06, Page 23Jim loads up the Pawnee with water. Strictly regulated and licensed, he can only
spray in nearly calm conditions because of concerns over nearby crops.
ment must be in tiptop condition. That
way he can buzz in over row crops,
some as low as two feet to get good
penetration, for example, into the leaf
canopy when spraying a fungicide on
white beans.
Jim says there's plenty of stress in
the business, but not from the flying.
"You've got to have good nerves, not
to fly but to run the business," says
Jim. "It's such a weather related bus-
iness that if the wind blows for a week
and you need to spray 2,000 acres, the
pressure's on to get it all done. You
can't always satisfy everyone."
He runs the business out of a
hangar north of Seaforth where he's
been located ever since he went into
. business on his own in 1977. He lives
there part of the season, commuting
back and forth to his home in
Tillsonburg, and serves farmers in a
four -county area with most of his
clients living in Huron County. At
one time he had two other planes and
pilots working for him, but he's down
to a one-man operation now with just
the help of a part-time ground crew.
"The quality of work suffered, so now,
if I can't do it myself, it doesn't get
done," he says.
Because crop spraying is such a
highly specialized profession, finding
and training good pilots is an expen-
sive proposition, and with the farm
economy suffering in the last decade,
many farmers have had to cut back on
expenses, even though Jim can show
them the benefits of flying on spray.
"Farmers are hurting bad ... and it
goes right down the line to farm input
people," says Jim.
As one of only six pilots in Ontario
spraying row crops, Jim says he can
prove that air spraying is competitive
with ground sprayers even though he
charges $8 per acre versus $3 or $4. If
a farmer figures the true cost — from
trampling, uneven ripening, and
compaction especially on headlands
— then air spraying is much cheaper.
As well, Jim can make quicker, more
timely applications, especially in a wet
year when ground sprayers can't get
on the land until it's too late. But
costs are rising, and with aviation fuel
at 80 cents a litre, it's not difficult to
go through $50 worth of fuel an hour,
especially in the "dead air" of a hot
summer day when the air hasn't as
much lift. He can spray from six acres
to 681 acres with one load, depending
on the product, and during an attack of
army worms, for instance, aerial
spraying is the only way to apply
spray to ripening grain crops.
Although Jim is severely restricted
by the government on what he can
spray on crops from the air, and guar-
antees to act in a responsible manner,
he's still the subject of ridicule by
most urban consumers. "We have to
educate city folks that spraying is an
inexpensive and efficient way to grow
food, and whcn done properly is very
beneficial. On a list of 50 dangerous
substances, most of these sprays are
way down at 29, after aspirin," says
Jim. "What most people don't realize
that many fruits and vegetables
produce their own natural pesticides
that humans have been eating for
centuries."
Jim also sees storm clouds on thc
horizon with the federal government's
new "open skies" policy of dereg-
ulating the flying industry, which
could sec American crop dusters come
here, put local flyers out of business,
and then charge whatever they want.
He cited a case on thc prairies a few
years ago whcn whcat farmers, over-
whelmed by a grasshopper plague,
were being charged $20 per acre by
fly-by-night operators for a job only
worth $5.
But Jim says he'll stay in the "crop
dusting" business, because he enjoys it
so much. "It's just like farming," he
says, "it's not a living, it's a way of
life. If I won the lottery, I'd still
spray. It's not the money."0
JUNE 1991 19