Yes, the term crop-dusting did originate in agriculture in the 1920s, and it refers to the use of small aircrafts to spray large areas of land with powdered pesticides. The practice has been occasionally banned due to various concerns about public health, the environment, and even terrorism.

Where was the first crop dusting?

And now a page from our "Sunday Morning" Almanac: August 3rd, 1921, 93 years ago today . . . by many accounts, the day a new form of agriculture first took flight. For that was the day Army pilot John Macready took off from McCook Field in Dayton, Ohio, on the first demonstration of crop dusting by plane.

Why do they dust crops?

They help protect soil and water quality. During the middle of the year, they might be applying pesticides. Pesticides might help control weeds in the field that steal nutrients and water from crops, insects in the field that eat the crops, or fungus growth in the field that attacks the crops.