About Sprayers 101

Sprayer operators regularly apply agricultural products such as pesticides, fertilizers, and plant growth modifiers to ensure the health and marketability of their crops. A successful application requires three things:

  • An understanding of safe product handling,
  • criteria for what and when to spray, and
  • the requisite skill to apply products efficiently and effectively.

Pesticide safety certification programs do a good job of teaching farmers and contractors how to handle, store and use pesticides safely. What they don’t always cover is how to apply them effectively.

That’s where Sprayers101 comes in.

The site began in December 2013 as an online companion to Airblast101, a four-hour classroom workshop developed by Dr. Jason Deveau in association with CropLife Canada. The course gave airblast sprayer operators practical tools to spray safely, effectively, economically and with as little environmental impact as possible. It was designed both for new operators learning the ropes and experienced applicators looking for a refresher.

The original website followed the course from beginning to end. But visitors had other ideas. They searched for a specific answer, found what they needed and moved on. That told us people didn’t want another online course. They wanted a practical library of bite-sized spraying information.

In 2014, Dr. Tom Wolf joined the project. His expertise and creativity helped us rebuild and greatly expand the site, including the addition of field sprayer resources. In May 2015, the reimagined Sprayers101.com was launched. As the audience grew, so did the collection, with new articles, calculators, videos, research results and contributions from spraying specialists around the world.

We refreshed the site again in 2021 to improve mobile access, search and content organization. Another major update followed in March 2026, bringing a new look, better searching, printable and referenced articles, and an improved mobile experience.

Today, Sprayers101 is dedicated to safe, efficient and effective agricultural spraying. We curate and create practical, impartial information for farmers, applicators, advisers, educators, regulators and other agricultural professionals.

Our topics range from spray drift, pesticide efficacy, canopy penetration and sprayer cleanout to emerging technologies such as spot spraying, optical sensors, artificial intelligence, prescription maps, autonomous sprayers and remotely piloted aircraft systems, better known as drones. We share that information through articles, narrated content, videos, presentations, comics, apps, decision-support tools and the occasional parody. Sometimes, learning about spraying should be fun.

With more than 250,000 page views each year, over 2,000 subscribers and readers around the world, Sprayers101 has grown well beyond its “101” beginnings. Our content remains impartial, and the site is supported by agricultural commodity groups rather than commercial interests.

None of this would be possible without our sponsors, contributing authors and readers. Thanks for helping us share better spraying practices around the world.

Happy Spraying!