About two miles west of Inland, on the county line, are the fields where Hoagland Homestead grows the vegetables that the family will sell at area farmers markets this summer. This market garden is an important part of Adam and Amy Hoagland’s diversified farm.
On the other side of the county, south of Edgar, is where Harvard’s Ken Lockling contracts with local landowners to place his honey bee colonies in pastures during his business’s off-season from pollinating West Coast blueberries.
While registering their farms and bee foraging sites on the online FieldWatch map is no guarantee of protection from pesticide drift from neighboring commercial crop fields, it is a good start.
“As you make plans for the 2024 growing season,” said Craig Romary, environmental programs specialist with the Nebraska Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Protection program in Lincoln, Neb., “please consider this communication tool to increase awareness of specialty crops and reduce instances of pesticide drift and potential crop damage.”
FieldWatch has gained visibility through the years—by both specialty crop growers and commercial pesticide applicators. In the least, FieldWatch has improved neighborly relations as specialty crops tend to be pesticide-sensitive. Ignoring the possibili- commercial crop field onto an adjacent property with a known pesticide-sensitive crop can also invite potential legal action should it affect the neighbor’s livelihood.
Commercial crop growers and pesticide applicators can view the Nebraska Field-Watch map at https://nda. nebraska.gov/pesticide/fieldwatch. html. Some pesticide labels now require applicators to check DriftWatch and take precautions when spraying nearby farms registered on DriftWatch, according to Romary.
He invites specialty crop producers to register their farms and honey bee foraging locations with DriftWatch or BeeCheck—which are displayed on the Nebraska Field-Watch map—now, ahead of the upcoming growing season. “This is a free, voluntary tool to increase communication between commercial specialty crop growers and nearby pesticide applicators to reduce incidents of pesticide drift,” Romary said.
FieldWatch is designed for specialty crop growers who derive income from their pesticide-sensitive crops. Examples of what can be included on the map are beehives, grapes, orchards, other fruits, vegetables, greenhouses, high tunnels, nursery crops, nut trees, tree nurseries, fish farms, non-specialty certified organic or transition-to-certified organic crops, plants grown for seed, cut flowers, flowers for scented products, woody florals, hops, and industrial hemp.
To register a specialty crop site, create an account and map the site at https://nda. nebraska.gov/pesticide/fieldwatch. html.
