Biological Systems Engineering
First Advisor
Joe D. Luck
Date of this Version
Fall 8-2022
Citation
Thorson, N. W. (2022). PESTICIDE APPLICATION MANAGEMENT TOOLSET FOR WORKER PROTECTION STANDARDS. M.S. thesis, University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
Abstract
The application of Pesticides has become a widely adopted practice within modern agriculture, however this practice poses a significant health risk to farm workers and crop advisors when pesticide exposures occur. Current safety standards require documentation of each application to help mitigate human exposure, yet these standards rely heavily on antiquated data collection formats and complex communication systems putting little emphasis on notification timeliness. Our objective was to reduce the risk of pesticide exposure for all farm workers and crop advisors by utilizing technological automation processes to reduce the number of links within the communication system. This proved successful though the collection of pesticide application information within a cloud-based data storage system, updating it in a near real-time fashion, and providing accessibility to the information from any location with cellular or internet connectivity. Today's technological advances allow applicators to quickly upload their pesticide application information to the cloud-based system, which permits prompt information accessibility for field workers and crop scouts. Individuals can then login to their account and locate application specifics such as the products applied, locations they were applied, the rates at which they were applied, and when each location is safe for re-entry. The Spray-Safely application was developed for agricultural producers, crop scouts, and custom pesticide applicators who are interested in the ease of seamlessly sharing pesticide application information across multiple platforms. We have found that by utilizing wireless data transfer technology and available industry leader’s software application programming interfaces (API’s), we can achieve the development and implementation of third-party applications to meet industry needs.
Advisor: Joe D. Luck
Comments
A THESIS Presented to the Faculty of The Graduate College at the University of Nebraska In Partial Fulfillment of Requirements For the Degree of Master of Science, Major: Mechanized Systems Management ,Under the Supervision of Professor Joe D. Luck. Lincoln, Nebraska: August, 2022
Copyright © 2022 Nathan W. Thorson