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By JEFF BURBRINK
Extension Educator, Purdue Extension Elkhart County
If you raise specialty crops or bees, you should consider signing up on driftwatch.org. Think of DriftWatch as a communication tool designed to help growers of sensitive specialty crops communicate with pesticide applicators.
Specialty “crops” can include a wide variety of plants and animal operations also. Christmas trees, greenhouse, vegetables, tree fruit, grapes, hardwood trees, herbs, certified organic, nursery crops, honey bees, fish farms and pastures for organic production of lamb, chicken, dairy or beef are just a few examples of items people have registered on the site. Some of these crops can be valued at thousands of dollars per acre, so DriftWatch can save money by decreasing crop damage.
Growers and applicators can sign up at in.DriftWatch.org for no cost. You will create an account and provide common information about yourself (name and contact information). If you provide an email address, you can receive updates and notifications via email. If you have no email address, just type in noemail@DriftWatch.org.
Once your account is set up, producers can highlight the locations of their crops on a map. It is a fairly simple process. If you are familiar with Google Maps, you will find the mapping to be an easy exercise. When applicators visit the site, they can look at fields they plan to spray and locate sensitive areas nearby.
There is no cost for applicators to participate either, and to use the site, applicators do not need an account. However, if applicators sign up for an account, they will receive emails when sensitive crops are added in their community. I know of two applicators who leave DriftWatch up on their computer screens during the busy spray season, and they require their staff to check the maps before spraying is started.
The information that is added to DriftWatch is overseen by stewards who verify each area submitted to the registry. The boundaries on the map are not property lines, but user-submitted sensitive area designations.
DriftWatch is not intended to be a registry for home gardens or for sites less than half an acre in size.