Development of a sprayer performance diagnostic tool for better management practices of in-field spraying operations

Chemical application is a prevalent crop management practice used worldwide. The EPA reported 5,821 million of pounds of pesticide active ingredient used at the producer level worldwide in 2012 [1]. With the increase of herbicide resistant weeds and other environmental concerns, it is continually important to ensure pesticides are applied at proper application rates. Research efforts were aimed to aid in the reduction of over- and underapplication through development of a program to improve sprayer operator feedback. Realtime sprayer analytics data were recorded, paired with corresponding Geographic Information System (GIS) points, and processed with the resulting program to produce high resolution sprayer coverage maps and application error analysis reports. The resulting reports showed significant sprayer errors not commonly found in current sprayer feedback.