Which pests are commonly managed through aerial application?

Aerial application is an effective pest management strategy primarily used for controlling various crop-damaging insects such as grasshoppers and locusts. These pests can quickly inflict significant damage to agricultural crops, making their timely management critical for protecting yield and ensuring food security. Aerial application allows for the efficient distribution of pesticides or biological control agents over large areas, making it possible to treat extensive agricultural fields rapidly.

Grasshoppers and locusts, in particular, can swarm and cover vast areas, making ground-based applications impractical or too slow. The aerial method provides a broader reach and can address infestations before they escalate, mitigating crop losses. Additionally, using aerial application offers advantages such as reduced labor costs and increased efficacy in reaching hard-to-access areas of farmland.

In contrast, managing rodents like rats and mice usually requires other control methods, often involving traps or bait stations that are most effective at ground level. Similarly, larger animals such as deer would necessitate different management strategies that are not suitable for aerial application. Pollinators like butterflies and bees are generally protected due to their ecological importance, and aerial applications targeting other insect pests can sometimes pose risks to them, necessitating caution in how such applications are executed.