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Australian cotton farmers have reported severe incidents of off-target herbicide spray drift in the Macquarie Valley and the Lachlan Valley with minor to moderate damage reported on cotton crops in the vicinity.

In one farming area near Narromine in the NSW Central West, there have been several reports of damage with one cotton grower potentially suffering more than half a million dollars in crop yield losses.

However, Cotton Australia says that most of Australia’s 1500 cotton growers breathed a sigh of relief as the threat of widespread and major spray drift damage eased – despite fears of a perfect storm caused by an explosion of weeds after significant rainfall.

The damage was caused by the off-target spraying of a phenoxy herbicide which was applied before Christmas.

Cotton Australia says that farmers should to map their spraying activities on SataCrop, a mapping tool informing all stakeholders of the location of potentially sensitive crops, and use WAND towers a  tool that can quickly detect hazardous conditions and inversions.

The Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority (APVMA) is the body responsible for the spray drift regulatory approach.