Population Surge & Spray Drift Warning

Population Surge & Spray Drift Warning

Population Surge & Spray Drift Warning. I'm Greg Martin with today's Northwest Report.

The population of Idaho is growing. The latest U.S. Census Bureau number show an overall increase of 1.3% in 2014. The growth of the approximately 22-thousand new Idaho residents was to urban areas where already two-third of the states inhabitants reside. The move to urban areas has been a gradual shift, prompted largely by people moving into the cities for work. What the study does not show is how populations are shifting inside the state away from rural areas.

A report by the WA State Department of Ag and the State Department of Health shows that last spring saw an unusually high number of pesticide drift cases early in the growing season. Wayne Clifford at DOH reminds ag producers to be careful.

CLIFFORD: Many of the drift cases that we see are farm-to-farm where it's crossing the boundary going into the neighboring farm and so there should be a little bit more emphasis and communication with the people who are actually doing the applications or maybe to increase the communication between the farms and they know that the neighboring farm has got workers employed there, they might want to let them know.

Clifford says it's important to monitor weather conditions and be ready to STOP the application immediately should factors warrant.

That's today's Northwest Report. I'm Greg Martin on the Ag Information Network of the West.

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