Hi Nelson I’m not an agriculturalist so I’d have to ask a colleague about the most dangerous pesticides in use in Australia. The most common herbicides used in

Hi Nelson I’m not an agriculturalist so I’d have to ask a colleague about the most dangerous pesticides in use in Australia. The most common herbicides used in the regions we work in are glyphosate (i.e. ‘Round-Up’) and 2,4-D. These are also the most likely culprits of damaged crops from spray drift events. Spray applicators can be fined now (and in the past) if they are found to have breached spraying rules. Spraying rules involves suitable weather conditions, as well as things like droplet size, boom height, nozzle size etc. Spray applicators need to keep a log/record of all their spraying activities and the current weather etc. They can likely be sued by the affected farmer, but I’m not sure about how often they end up having to pay damages. Long-distance spray drift (common during an inversion) can be impossible to identify the source(s)/culprit(s). Until now, farmers may have unwittingly sprayed during an inversion or some rogue farmers may have taken advantage of the fact that no-one could prove that it was inversion. Because of our mesonet and real-time data, this is no longer the case. Spray applicators legally MUST adhere to the label directions (do NOT spray during an inversion). And the public nature of our website and data mean that anyone out spraying when the mesonet indicates hazardous conditions will face community backlash – this is also a strong driver for behaviour change / practice change.