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Stone’s Sebastian Castro-Tanzi and Michael Winchell were part of a collaborative team of scientists who recently published a study, "Validation of the Spray Drift Modeling Software AGDISPpro Applied to Remotely Piloted Aerial Application Systems." 

The scientific paper evaluates AGDISPpro, an advanced modeling software with new capabilities to accurately predict off-target pesticide spray drift from remotely piloted aerial application systems (RPAAS or drones). To validate AGDISPpro for RPAAS, scientists compiled data from Nebraska and Vermont RPAAS field studies conducted by Stone and Bayer Crop Science.

As part of these studies, the team measured off-target spray drift and collected operational, meteorologic, and agronomic data. They also collected and evaluated in-swath and off-target drift deposition samples. Field data was compared with 18 spray application events modeled using AGDISPpro.

The results suggested the models’ predictions matched well with data from the field studies, demonstrating that the software is a promising tool for modeling off-target spray deposition from RPAAS.

The study, facilitated by Dr. Jane (Zhengxu) Tang of Bayer Crop Science, helps bridge a critical data gap necessary for regulating an emerging pesticide application technology. The team behind this study included the software developers, RPAAS experts from the US Department of Agriculture, crop protection industry scientists, and, of course, the environmental modelers from Stone.