Airblast Budget and Work Rate Calculator

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About David Manktelow (Spray_Kiwi)

Grew up working on orchards in the Bay of Plenty (NZ). BSc in Hort. Sci. at Massey University, MSc in Disease Mgmt. and PhD in Application Tech at Lincoln University. Combining biology and application technology in fruit crops, focused on depositing spray on the target as a drift reduction strategy, passionate about developing tools to improve industry uptake of truly sustainable production practices. Planning to fit in some serious sailing along the way, too.

See all posts by David Manktelow (Spray_Kiwi).

There are many factors that affect the work rate of an airblast application. If an operator can improve their work rate, without compromising spray efficacy or safety, they improve operational efficiency and save money.

But how does each variable factor in? Is it worth the cost of a tender truck and operator to fill more efficiently? Should you upgrade to a multi-row sprayer? Should your next planting have longer rows?

Download a copy of the Airblast Budget and Work Rate Calculator and find out. You must have Excel to run the spreadsheet, and you must permit the use of macros (you’ll be prompted to accept).

Build and compare multiple scenarios to explore the relative impact of small changes to your typical spray program. We recommend making only one change for each scenario so you can better understand the results. Print the comparison page for your records.

Whether you’re a sprayer operator, or a manager of sprayer operators, this exercise will help you see your spray program in a whole new light.

Spoiler: It’s amazing how changes to travel speed have only a marginal impact on work rate. Often less than 60% of the total spray job is spent actually spraying!