Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 Page 4 Page 5 Page 6 Page 7 Page 8 Page 9 Page 10 Page 11 Page 12 Page 13 Page 14 Page 15 Page 16 Page 17 Page 18 Page 19 Page 20 Page 21 Page 22 Page 23 Page 24 Page 25 Page 26 Page 27 Page 28 Page 29 Page 30 Page 31 Page 32 Page 33 Page 34 Page 35 Page 36 Page 37 Page 38 Page 39 Page 40 Page 41 Page 42 Page 43 Page 4431 IREC Farmers' Newsletter No. 197 — Autumn 2017 SPRAY DRIFT – WHY IS IT STILL HAPPENING? A smoke demonstration showing air movement under early morning inversion conditions. l  Most incidents of spray drift result from ‘inversion drift’, i.e. not drift from an adjacent sprayed area but from one or more sources some distance from the affected site. l  Applicators need to understand the difference between ‘day wind’ and ‘inversion wind’, and how these affect the movement of spray droplets. l  Spraying should occur when there is ‘day wind’, which has a turbulent motion and is much more likely to pull any fine droplets to the ground within a reasonable distance. l  Spraying under inversion conditions is extremely high risk and prohibited on many product labels — that means it is illegal. Despite an abundance of information on spray application being available, we continue to see widespread incidents of crop damage each year. A key to avoiding spray drift is understanding the difference between ‘day wind’ and ‘inversion wind’. Mary O’Brien Educator, chemical use best practice Mary O’Brien Rural Enterprises P/L, Dalby, Queensland MANY factors contribute to the number and severity of spray drift incidents that occur across agricultural areas each year, with the most obvious being the nature of the season. Less rain and therefore less weed pressure directly translates into less spraying, we know this. Regardless of the season, the fact that drift is occurring at all should be our major concern and certainly it is, for those affected by drift on an annual basis. QUICK TAKE