Since the 17th century, agriculture in Western civilisation has undergone quite radical transformations. The development of natural sciences and industry made it possible to introduce new techniques and methods of cultivation and breeding in farming.
As a result, without radically increasing the cultivated area, a significant increase in crop yields was achieved; however, the rapidly growing populations of countries undergoing the industrial revolution needed ever more efficient agriculture. Large-scale food production became a profitable business. Mass cultivation, however, also meant a greater scale of the problem of pests, weeds and diseases. Large fields sown with a single crop species were at risk of disaster should a pest appear. Analogous problems arose in forestry, where due to industry demand, so-called monocultures were created, planting only single tree species (pine, spruce) in place of felled forests.
The plagues afflicting intensive agriculture required dynamic and wide-ranging countermeasures. When the aeroplane was built and perfected – a vehicle that was relatively fast and moved independently of terrain conditions – no special encouragement was needed to attempt to “harness wings to the plough.” After the enthusiast aviators, people looking for ways to put the invention to economic use became interested. Also in agriculture, for which the use of machines had become an important factor of development.
The damage caused by nun moth caterpillars in European coniferous forests is very serious. The methods proposed and used so far for destroying the caterpillars have proved inadequate. […] spraying of trees from above by using an aeroplane should be carried out […] — Alfred Zimmermann*
