Severn Trent is inviting farmers to learn about improving spray efficiencies in an upcoming series of virtual workshops, where they will receive a free set of low drift spray nozzles upon completion of the session.
Running from December to January, the Swap Your Nozzles webinars will help farmers in priority catchments further their knowledge on how to reduce spray drift and reduce the risk of pesticides reaching watercourses.
Dr Adam Freer, senior catchment scientist at Severn Trent, explains that attendees will be offered a choice of fully funded LERAP 3* or 4* nozzles and caps from a predefined list of options.
“Attendees can also register for one NRoSO and two BASIS CPD points,” he says.
Leading the webinar series will be Chris Tolley, independent agronomist, farmer and farming consultant who will provide practical advice covering topics from legislation, Local Environment Risk Assessments for Pesticides (LERAP) and buffer zones, through to choosing a nozzle and application considerations.
“We hope that farmers will walk away from the workshops with tools to not only improve spray efficiency, but also improve farm profitability,” says Dr Freer.
He says managing spray drift is one of the most straightforward ways that farmers can prevent pesticides reaching watercourses while reaping the rewards of reduced input costs by cutting wastage.
“By using low drift nozzles, farmers can also widen their spraying window, because applications could be made where conditions may not be appropriate with standard spray nozzles.”
Training is available to all farmers in Severn Trent pesticide priority catchments and the workshops will take place on the following dates:
Wednesday 13th December 2023- 1pm – 3.30pm
Monday 8th January 2024- 6.30pm – 8.30pm
Friday 12th January 2024- 9.30am – 12pm
