Complaints about crop dusters spraying people are up - 13 WTHR Indianapolis

Aerial Crop spraying is hitting more people and their houses than ever before. In one case this summer, a woman from Selma near Muncie was hit with chemicals standing in her yard.

The aircraft are essential tools for farmers. They deliver an arsenal of ag chemicals targeting fungus that targets corn crops. But sometimes the crop dusters- aerial applicators - miss their mark and cover people and their houses. That is illegal.

James Olesen of Muncie says they knew there was a problem. He told us "That's when we heard the plane coming, got closer to the north of our house."

At low altitude the plane began spraying crops in the field next to his property line and his neighbors. They knew it drifted over.

"At that point I said 'hurry up and get inside. Close the doors. Just get inside,'" said Olesen. He went through this two years before. He was able to get the plane's tail number and complained to the State Chemist at Purdue.

David Scott with the State Chemist's office says the ag chemicals and people don't go well together. He says "they are all going to have label directions against spraying and exposing people."

Still the state is getting more complaints than ever of homes or people hit by the chemicals. There were 24 last year. That's because new chemicals promise a big hike in corn yield. But they can only be applied by air.

The chemicals can cause skin irritation. Olesen worries about longer term problems.
A woman who lives in the same area east of Muncie says her clothes were left damp from an off-course aerial spray.

"They just have to understand," says Olesen, "this subdivision now just isn't a farm field."