Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/668668
26 MAY 1, 2016 Good Fruit Grower www.goodfruit.com spray drift, which after declining for several years spiked to 72 complaints alleging drift in 2013, highlighting the need for additional education and farm worker familiarity with spray equipment. The course also addresses many other safety issues, including tractor and sprayer safety. Sprayer training Orchards have changed signifi cantly in recent years. Sprayers that were designed for orchards comprised of big, stand-alone trees now face fruiting walls, but the sprayer technology has changed little, said Borges, who has been with the education program for 14 years after working for several fruit companies as an orchard manager. In addition, the traditional way to calibrate a sprayer is very complicated, and a lot of workers simply don't know how to do it. The class teaches step by step what calibration is and how to do it. "An applicator's perspective is very limited, so if they're drifting, they're going to be the last ones to know," Borges said. "We advise workers to run sprayers through with water and get to know where their product is going." The class also focuses on weather-tracking technol- ogies that can be used to reduce drift. "We're talking to these workers about safety and weather and about how these new technologies can be used to reduce drift," Borges said. "We want to teach them how to use the equipment, but most of all, we want to teach them to be safe." Klipsun Vineyards, located in Washington's Red Mountain appellation near Benton City, sent three workers to a recent sprayer class sponsored by G.S. Long Co. One of them, Roy Garcia, supervises about 24 farm workers during harvest and said he will be teaching what he learns at the vineyard's safety meeting each month. Many programs offer video demonstrations to teach workers how to perform a task, but the Washington workshops require attendees to learn and apply the information in the orchard, ensuring they are more likely to walk away with the knowledge, he said. Wayne Worby, who grows 17 acres of cherries near Selah, Washington, said the competitive industry demands that growers stay up to date on technologies, including spray technology. "Twenty years ago, we were harvesting 50 bins to the acre and were pretty happy with that. Now, it's 150," he said. An added benefi t of the class is that the instructors aren't the only teachers; plenty of attendees offer ideas as well, he said. Worby, who has been growing fruit since 1979, uses an aging, power blast sprayer that requires him to think differently about how to calibrate and apply pesticides. "We're always trying to outthink a plant, and the plant always wins," he said. "But other people have resources too, so I like to hear what others are doing to validate what I'm doing or get new ideas." ONLINE For more information on Washington's Farmworker Education Program, visit 1.usa.gov/236i9z2 "We want to teach them how to use the equipment, but most of all, we want to teach them to be safe." —Ofelio Borges Jaime Ramon of the Washington State Department of Agriculture (top right) talks during a spray application training to help applicators reduce spray drift. Jaime Ramon checks Daniel Canales' math during an exercise to accurately calculate spray nozzle application amounts.