WITH another good season on the cards and the crop potential high, growers have been turning to the sky to make sure bait, sprays and other inputs are applied efficiently and effectively.
It's been a record-breaking year for aerial spraying and spreading services around the State, with mouse baiting in particular in higher demand than usual.
Based out of Esperance, South East Air Ag very rarely does baiting at this time of year as it's a service usually requested at the start of the season.
However this year, the company has baited 197,000 hectares, 65,000ha of which has been done since July and another 17,000ha on the books still to be completed.
Undertaking that 17,000ha will take the company about four days, which means wait times for services are currently just below a week.
South East Air Ag co-director and chief pilot Scott Mackie said it was undoubtedly their biggest year ever for mouse baiting and reports from growers had been varied.
"It seems like there is a bit of a trend that if growers baited at the early part of the season, then they're less likely to be having to do it at this time of the year," Mr Mackie said.
"However, that's not 100 per cent and it is a numbers game, so if people had a lot of mice at the beginning of the season then they'd likely spread bait three times with their ground rigs and now we're coming in to do it again."
For Sierra Turipa Aviation, based at Coorow, this year has been a mixed bag when it comes to aerial application, with bait, fertiliser, herbicides, fungicides and insecticides all being requested.
Calls for mouse baiting again started early in the season, back at the beginning of April and, according to owner and pilot Reagan Kau, it was a very similar situation to last year.
"Farmers are trying to break up the breeding cycle," Mr Kau said.
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"Where we baited last year, we've had to do it again this year at the same spots and the same rates."
Both companies have been in business for many years and have a regular client base, with the aim often being to try to service farmers from the same area at the same time.
It's a case of critical mass - when they can go somewhere and do more work without moving, the economics of it gets better.
However, in reality it's an on-demand service and when a client needs something done, they try to get there as soon as they can.
"We often work off a singular airstrip and service three of four clients," Mr Mackie said.
"We're doing some work at Lake King this week and one of them will supply a loader which the other farmers will use and they'll sort it out between them with some cartons of beer."
Ultimately, anything needed to enhance and protect a crop has been in high demand.
Across the State it has again been a reasonably wet year with the crops in good condition, improving their potential.
"Labour has been an issue for some farmers, so it's easier to get the plane in and get done in a day what would take them three or four days to complete," Mr Mackie said.
"In saying that, they're not going to spend money on their crops if they're not worthwhile spending money on, but as grain prices are high, growers are looking after them."
The aerial application industry has continued to grow and, over the past two years, that development has been exponential.
The seasons have definitely helped, but Mr Kau believes a lot of it has to do with the fact that farms are getting bigger and time management is becoming more important.
"Ten years ago we were told self-propelled (sprayers) would be the death of aviation application but it turned out to be the opposite," he said.
"With input costs being so high, farmers need to make sure they're applied when it's needed and doing it from the sky is a quicker and easier way to do that.
"It all comes down to management and the efficiency of applying a product."
