When spraying pesticides, don't let others get your drift. "It
is bad enough when your drift damages your crops, your lawn or
your garden. But when the damage is to your neighbor's field or
flowerbeds, then you've got a real problem," says Erdal Ozkan,
an Ohio State University Extension agricultural engineer. Spray
drift is one of the more serious problems pesticide applicators
have to deal with. Three-fourths of the agriculture-related
complaints investigated by the Ohio Department of Agriculture in
2003 involved drift. "This shows the seriousness of the
problem," Ozkan says. "Drift will be even a bigger problem in
the future since there is an increase in acreage of genetically
modified crops and use of non-selective herbicides for weed
control. Even a small amount of these non-selective herbicides
can cause serious damage on the crop nearby that is not
genetically modified." Drift is the movement of a pesticide
through air, during or after application, to a site other than
the intended site of application.