AGRICULTURAL CHEMICAL APPLICATION PRACTICES TO REDUCE ENVIRONMENTAL CONTAMINATION

Current practices of applying agricultural chemicals play a major role in the environmental health concerns of agriculture. Those who mix, load, and handle the concentrated formulations run the greatest risk of exposure but field hands and others can encounter significant levels of pesticides. Drift can be a major source of contamination to residents, wildlife, and water sources. Improved methods of application and ways of reducing the total amount of pesticide applied can help reduce environmental contamination. Chemigation, direct injection, closed system handling, and fertilizer impregnation are examples of technology that affect the efficiency of applying agricultural chemicals. An area of beneficial research is related to leak and spill technology. Current surveys indicate that point sources such as spills, mixing and loading areas, back‐siphoning, and direct routes for surface water movement into the ground are often a major cause of pesticides reaching groundwater. The commercial dealer/applicator provides storage, handling, mixing, and loading for large amounts of chemicals and has received limited guidance regarding the products. Education remains an important element of any rural environmental health strategy. With appropriate information about pesticide risks and groundwater, people will be better equipped to address environmental concerns. By design, agricultural chemicals are biologically active and, in most cases, toxic. Thus, they pose potential risks to humans, wildlife, water, and the environment in general. The magnitude of the risks depends to some degree on the methods and techniques used to apply the chemicals. Pesticides are applied by persons possessing a variety of skills, using equipment ranging from hand‐operated systems to aircraft. Copyright © 1990 Wiley Periodicals, Inc., A Wiley Company