Herbicide drift has made headlines in recent years, but no study to-date has attempted to quantify the overall impact that herbicide drift has on growers of fruits, vegetables, and other specialty crops. A special project group of the North Central Integrated Pest Management (IPM) Center has been conducting a survey this past winter to gather information on herbicide drift damage and risk-management among specialty crop growers in the North Central U.S. Responses will help establish needs for research on drift mechanisms, prevention, and remediation; and/or for reviewing current policy and reporting requirements.
State and local educators or organizations who would like to help distribute this survey or are interested in the results, should contact project leader, Cassandra Brown at brown.1844@osu.edu. For those outside the study region, we are happy to share procedures and/or a copy of the survey tool for use in your state.
The survey has collected more than 320 responses since February and initial responses are being compiled. Growers can still complete the survey at go.osu.edu/drift12 through June 11. Growers may participate whether or not they have experienced drift damage, since we are also interested in preventative practices, risk factors, and attitudes about drift.
This survey is
- open to anyone who grew fruits, vegetables, or other specialty crops in OH, IN, MI, WI, MN, IA, MO, KS, NE, ND, and SD in 2020 and/or 2019.
- intended to document the risk, frequency, management, and economic impact of drift damage among specialty crop growers in the Midwest.
- estimated to take 5-20 minutes, depending on the respondent’s experience with drift damage.
- facilitated by The Ohio State University and funded by the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture through agreement 2018-70006-28884.