The Illinois Department of Agriculture is encouraging specialty crop growers and apiaries to register their crops in the online Driftwatch program to make pesticide applicators aware of their sites.
Illinois Department of Agriculture director Philip Nelson visited Alto Vineyards in Union County Tuesday to promote the benefits of the program.
Nelson says Driftwatch is an internet-based geographic information system, which allows growers the opportunity to enter the location of their fields on a map. This information is then accessible to pesticide applicators who can consult the program to avoid spraying sensitive crops. Nelson says this is important because Mother Nature can be unpredictable.
He says the Department of Agriculture does not have a monetary impact of pesticide drift, but it could be substantial because there are now 106,000 acres of specialty crops in Illinois with sales totaling almost $470 million.
Jennifer Montgomery is executive director of the Illinois Grape Growers and Vintners Association. She says there are now 108 wineries in the state and a 2012 study showed their economic impact on the state is $692 million.
Nearly 2,000 specialty crop growers and 128 pesticide applicators have registered for Driftwatch since it started in 2010.
To register, go to https://il.driftwatch.org.