by Tom Chillemi –
Sometimes tractors fly. And when they do it’s exciting.
Crabbe Aviation of Hanover was in Middlesex County last week spreading rye seed on about 700 acres. Rye is a grass that will become a cover crop for the winter and control erosion. Rye will grow to a height of about 2 feet and will take nitrogen from the air and put it into the soil. Its roots open up and aerate the soil.
The Air Tractor 502 plane, with more than 600 horsepower, has a payload of more than 5,000 pounds.
Last week pilot Matt Crabbe and an employee in another Air Tractor spread seed at a rate of 90 pounds per acre over Revere Farms in Deltaville and Fairfield Farms in Hartfield, as well as other areas. “An airplane does it a whole lot faster than we can do with a tractor,” said E.G. Fleet of Fairfield Farms.
The rye was seeded over soybeans, which will be harvested soon. Later, farmers will plant crimson clover as a cover crop and a special radish that will open large holes in the earth, said Fleet and farmer Craig Revere.
Crabbe Aviation routinely works farms in North Carolina as well as Virginia.
