Crop dusters grounded by drought

CHOWCHILLA, Calif. (KFSN) -- The drought may hit farmers first but its trickle-down effect is felt all over the Valley. Local companies which rely on the Ag industry are seeing a drop in business.

The crop dusters at Thiel Air Care in Chowchilla aren't taking to the air like they normally do.

With so much land idled because of the drought, Doug Thiel's services haven't been needed as much. It is a frustrating time for a guy who's been in the business 35 years.

Thiel said, "We're down 30 to 40 percent of what we usually are. May - we were probably down 80 percent because rice is a real user of water and they had zero water in Merced."

Many North Valley growers facing zero water allocation did not plant any rice at all. It is a crop which requires aerial planting and fertilizing.

Normally Thiel's pilots would be flying at night over sweet corn, garlic, onions and alfalfa - crops which have seen severe cutbacks.

Thiel said, "Right now mostly its insecticides. Whole split with worms. Typically with dry, higher temperatures more insecticides go out."

Because of the dip in business, Doug even shifted three of his crop dusters to North Dakota.

He even found new uses for his chopper. "Kind of sent a helicopter to dry cherries in Washington, which is new for us. We've never done that before just try to pick up some of the slack."

Thiel had to lay off two employees and reduce hours for everyone else.