the.com/crop spraying
agriculture's version of carpet bombing, aimed at bugs instead of enemies.
means applying pesticides, herbicides, or fertilizers to farmland from tractors, planes, or drones to boost yield and kill threats to it.
from scaled up from hand-pumped sprayers in the 1800s to full aerial application after WWI surplus planes and pilots needed new work in the 1920s.
first flight1921, ohio, a modified army biplane dusted catalpa trees
drift problemup to half of sprayed chemical can miss target
drone shiftincreasingly replacing manned planes for precision spraying