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Aerial Topdressing   (Mar 01, 2007)

Aerial Topdressing is mainly a New Zealand invention but crop dusting is a product and invention of the USA

Aerial topdressing definition or aerial distribution of aerial fertilizer is a mixed blessing for the country of New Zealand: according to Wikipedia® "is the spreading of fertilisers (fertilizers) such as superphosphate over farmland with the use of aircraft." The mixed blessing is also sometimes called by some authorities as an ecological disaster. The ever larger demand for more grass surfaces to feed the sheep population has caused: deforestation, introduction of deer and rabbits, overgrazing by sheep, unnatural heavy rain runoff resulted in excessive soil erosion.

The historical aspect of aerial topdressing or as we refer to it here in the USA "crop dusting" goes according Wikipedia®: "Aerial topdressing was (historically) developed in New Zealand in the 1940s" and shortly after the WWW ll the expansion of aerial top dressing or crop dusting became very popular in the USA. A little more digging of topdressing.biz editorial staff found that way back in 1906 a gentleman by the name of John Chaytor conducted his first aerial top dressing of agricultural materials. He spread seed over the swamp land around Wairoa, New Zealand. His mode of aerial transportation was a hot air balloon with attached mobile tethers.

Our staff  found that around the 3 August 1921 when another gentleman by the name of Dr Coad, advocated the use of a USAAC Curtiss JN4 Jenny to spread lead arsenate to kill catalpa sphinx caterpillars near Troy, Ohio, USA. The plain was piloted by John MacReady.

1924 shows in the history aerial top dressing the next incident of commercial use of insecticide and fungicide for crop dusting purposes. According to our digging the aerial topdressing utilization only progressed slowly prior to the Second World War.  With the end of the WWW ll Crop dusting poisons experienced a growth surge both in the USA and Europe only to be slowed down by vast environmental impact studies demonstrating that the widespread use impacted unfavorably the ecological balance of our environment. One of the impact studies was the publication of Rachel Carson's Silent Spring.

From our research we can find that Crop dusting was not used in New Zealand long after top dressing was well established.

Originally New Zealand's interest in aerial distribution of agricultural material focused mainly on seed spreading, but soil analysis demonstrated lack of ma

Other Aerial topdressing definition can be found under aerial top dressing and crop dusting ny minerals and the manual distribution in the rougher northern part of New Zealand forced to either adopt other topdressing methods or abandoning this part back to forestry. The use of aircraft o top dress was soon thereafter adopted.

Aerial distribution of superphosphate was suggested by the two New Zealanders, John Lambert of Hunterville and Len Daniell of Wairere around 1926. Other historic entries of aerial sowing and topdressing trials are recorded in 1937 in the prevention of soil erosion.

One reason for not pursuing aerial topdressing was that at that time it was illegal to drop anything from an aircraft in New Zealand. These regulation hampered the further aerial distribution of agricultural materials and also dissuaded the advocates who new that a law changes was necessary before experiments could be continued. Almost single handedly a fellow by the name of Esmond Gibson would force the law change.

For more than fifty years aerial topdressing flourished in New Zealand but with the study of the environmental impact things are coming to an impasse.

The government research was to promote soil conservation, and the results are negative impacts on the environment. The two major problems the study reveals are the water run off containing fertiliser/fertiliser which contaminates and imbalances the chemical composition of streams and waterways. This imbalance encourages marine plant growth which in turn leads to blocking the downstream waterways. The ensuing result is that this condition alters the fresh water ecosystem and impacts the native fish of these waterways.

New Zealand's authorities in the attempt to minimize/minimize the water contamination impact, has prohibited topdressing within certain distances of public waters. The second impact is not as directly seen and felt. To aide the sheep industry to stay in the black on steep inclined land, the topdressing industry stopped reforestation program.