Ag Aviation Industry Still Soaring

Cindy Zimmerman

The latest industry survey from the National Agricultural Aviation Association (NAAA) finds that aerial application is as important to modern agriculture as ever, and the industry’s footprint is expanding. From 2012 when NAAA’s last industry survey was released to 2019, consider these growth factors: • The number of agricultural aviation operations has grown 16% since 2012. • Along with more …

AgWired Precision, NAAA

BASF/NAAA Partnership Supports Future of Ag Pilots

Jamie Johansen

Three up-and-coming agricultural pilots were awarded scholarships sponsored by BASF and the National Agricultural Aviation Association (NAAA) to help them turn their dreams of becoming professional agricultural pilots into reality. Kole Pederson of Crookston, MN; Richard Conrad of Kiel, WI and Heidi Stoeppler of Bakersfield, CA were awarded the NAAA/BASF Agricultural Aviation Scholarships of $5,000, $2,500 and $1,000 during the …

Agribusiness, BASF, Education, NAAA

Aerial Precision in the Hemisphere

Chuck Zimmerman

I had my first opportunity to learn about Hemisphere GPS during the National Agricultural Aviation Association convention when I spoke with Greg Guyette, General Manager, Air & Imagery Business. Greg says that their systems are “moving to data management, data movement, real time systems.” It’s becoming all about being able to immediately move a file or access a file to …

Agribusiness, Audio, NAAA, Precision Agriculture

Importance of Support for Aerial Application Business

Chuck Zimmerman

During the National Agricultural Aviation Association convention I met aerial applicator Kyle Scott, Scott Aviation (right). Kyle sponsored Justin Mook, 2012 NAAA/BASF Agricultural Aviation Scholarship recipient, pictured on left. Kyle is Treasurer of the NAAA and has been in the aerial application business for over twenty years. He’s been a member since the beginning of his career in the industry. …

Ag Groups, Audio, BASF, NAAA

BASF Support of Aerial Application Industry

Chuck Zimmerman

The BASF team was looking good this week at the National Agricultural Aviation Association Convention. Here they are just as the trade show started. During the show I visited with a couple of the representatives on hand starting with our good friend Dr. Gary Fellows, Technical Marketing Manager. Gary presented the NAAA/BASF Scholarship awards and was available to talk about …

Agribusiness, Audio, BASF, NAAA

Incoming NAAA President on Membership

Chuck Zimmerman

The incoming President of the National Agricultural Aviation Association, Dana Ness, Ag-Air Inc., Chester, MT, talked with me about membership. He’s pretty excited to be taking on the job of President at the first of the year. When it comes to membership in the organization he says “Membership is my voice in Washington.” That’s very important when there are regulatory …

Ag Groups, Audio, NAAA

President of the NAAA Optimistic for Future

Chuck Zimmerman

The 2012 President of the National Agricultural Aviation Association is Mark Hartz. Mark is a 30 year ag pilot from Arkansas. He has a two plane operation with a partner. Mark is very happy with the convention, attendance and the city of Savannah for being great hosts for the NAAA. When it comes to industry challenges Mark says they are …

Ag Groups, Audio, NAAA

Ag Aviators Dealing with Duplicate Regulations

Chuck Zimmerman

Dealing with EPA’s NPDES and state pesticide general permits. Sounds daunting doesn’t it? Well it is for agricultural aviators. It is government regulation that duplicates already existing regulation and is something that the NAAA has been working on in Washington, DC all year and it looks like will have to continue to do so. To provide NAAA members with an …

Ag Groups, Audio, Crop Protection, NAAA

The Women of the NAAA

Chuck Zimmerman

The current President of the Women of the National Agricultural Aviation Association is Katy Diehl. We visited here in Savannah at the NAAA convention. Kathy is from Garden City, KS and is married to an agricultural aviator and is personally a banker. The Women of the National Agricultural Aviation Association (WNAAA) is a companion organization to the NAAA. Members are …

Ag Groups, Audio, NAAA

NAAA Annual Membership Meeting

Chuck Zimmerman

The annual membership meeting was the start of today’s National Agricultural Aviation Association convention. The meeting started out with a comprehensive report from Andrew Moore, Executive Director. You can listen to some of the points he brought up here from the interview we did yesterday. One of the things in his report that caught my ear was a member request …

Ag Groups, NAAA