Why a Closed Transfer System is Essential for Crop Spraying?
Crop spraying is necessary for protecting crops and improving yield. However, it can also contaminate water and risk the safety of sprayers and operators. A Closed Transfer System, such as Tefen’s AccuRite, is an environmentally safe and operator friendly solution to transfer chemicals pesticides to a sprayer with minimum contamination.
Tefen recently hosted a webinar with crop spraying experts to discuss the evolution and importance using a CTS and what farmers can do to make crop spraying fast, accurate, simple, and safe. Read on to learn what the experts are saying.
How to safely transfer pesticides to sprayers
One of the first steps in crop spraying is filling the sprayer with crop protection products. This step requires precision, and any mistakes lead to serious contamination. A recent study of 338 farmers in four EU countries found that many farmers were interested in a new system that would improve the ease and speed of filling a sprayer. Farmers also were interested in a solution that would improve the safety of filling the sprayer and reduce the risks of spillage. With these goals in mind, the easyconnect AccuRite CTS was developed.
The easyconnect is part of a CTS that enhances operator safety and works with existing products on the market. It mitigates eye irritation and skin sensitizers and offers a standard connection between pesticide containers and a CTS for the Crop Protection Industry.
Furthermore, it offers potential tax benefits and incentives and meets upcoming regulatory requirements that many EU countries are implementing. The Netherlands is paving the way for CTS regulation, with countries such as Belgium, Denmark, and the Czech Republic following. These countries are all expected to implement regulations over the next few 2 years. Germany, France, and UK, are expected to join in the next few years.
Even without governmental regulation, there are already international standards in place set by ISO. The ISO standard certification regulates the maximum residue for containers and coupling devices, as well as the dosing precision, speed, and avoidance of leakage during transfer.
While there are many transfer systems on the market that meet these requirements, the easyconnect system – Cap & Coupler – reduces exposure by 90% and it is already adopted by many companies in the Crop Protection Industry. The system includes a pre-fitted cap made of three pieces that connects to a coupler, allowing for easy and safe transfer of pesticide products to the sprayer. Once the easyconnect cap is connected to the coupler, its inner cap is sucked inside the coupler, ensuring that materials drain without any exposure to the outside.
Already pilots of the easyconnect system have been launched in many some countries across Europe. The product is being improved during these pilots and will be finalized by 2025, when regulations for this type of product will start to kick in.
Why is a CTS essential for safe crop spraying?
Today, 2.5% of the earth’s water is used for drinking water. This water can easily be contaminated by pesticides that seep into groundwater during the crop spraying process. In fact, 1 gram of pesticide can contaminate 10,000 cubic meters of water, which is equivalent to the limit of 0.1 microgram per liter of drinking water.
Much of the contamination today occurs not from the pesticides already sprayed on plants, but from the spraying process itself. A large amount of contamination is caused by faulty seals or spills during filling or rinsing containers.
Today there are several measures in place to improve the safety of crop spraying. Countries such as Denmark offer tax incentives, which help but haven’t brought around real change. Other guidelines that cover how to fill sprayers, including the requirement to have clean water tanks for cleaning sprayers and washing hands also help. However, a CTS has proven the best option to reduce contamination and improve operator safety.
The AccuRite system
Tefen’s AccuRite system is a coupler that connects with the easyconnect cap to allow the safe transfer of pesticides to the crop sprayer. Once the easyconnect cap is inserted, the AccuRite system seals the pesticide container. Its user-friendly interface allows the operator to choose a full or partial drain and the pesticides are safely transferred to the sprayer. The AccuRite system also rinses the container, ensuring no exposure even after the container is removed.
AccuRite and easyconnect together make crop spraying fast, easy, and safe. This system protects from spillage and eliminates water contamination and operator exposure.
Interested in learning more about AccuRite and the importance of using a CTS? Watch our webinar with experts Dr. Tirso Garcia de Oteyza Feldermann, the Sustainable and Responsible Business Manager EAME at Syngenta, Niels Jacob Jakobsen the Strategic Agronomy Manager of ADAMA Northern Europe, and Tefen’s VP of Business Development and AccuRite Business Division Director Chaim Schwartz to get the full scoop: https://tefen-accurite.tefentech.com/after-webinar/