Pesticide application in bush and tree crops requires an airblast to open and to penetrate the inner canopy. The airblast improves efficacy but can also lead to increased spray drift. Pesticide spray drift has been and continues to be of concern to the US EPA in its responsibility to ensure that pesticide use does not cause unreasonable adverse effects to human health and the environment. 'Spray or dust drift is the physical movement of pesticide droplets or particles through the air at the time of pesticide application or soon thereafter from the target site to any non- or off-target site. Spray drift does not include movement of pesticides to non- or off-target sites caused by erosion, migration, volatility, or windblown soil particles that occurs after application or application of fumigants.' Under 40 CFR part 158, US EPA requires data on drift to support the registration or re-registration of certain products. One of the data sources for the agency is a collection of studies conducted by a group of registrants, named the Spray Drift Task Force (SDTF). In addition to the collection of empirical data, the SDTF co-developed AgDRIFT with US EPA and USDA Forest Service. AgDRIFT is a model created to provide estimates of spray drift deposition under different pesticide application and meteorological conditions. The US EPA uses the conclusions from the SDTF data, AgDRIFT or other appropriate models, and open literature in its assessments of pesticides. This literature review aims to provide a better understanding of the level of precision and accuracy with respect to real-world exposures that can be obtained using the current tools for estimation.

Systematic literature review: Downwind spray drift from orchard air blast sprayers

246th National Meeting (2013)

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