Federal action on crop-dusting planes because they could be used by terrorists has had little impact in Southwest Ohio, where the aerial agricultural accessory is rarely used in these days of suburban growth.

        “There aren't any that I'm aware of,” said Steve Bartels, a Butler County Ohio State University agricultural extension agent. “There are very few licensed chemical applicators in the state. It's just the way Ohio is.”

        On Sunday, the U.S. government grounded crop-dusting planes across the country through Monday. The planes were also grounded Sept. 16 and have been banned from flying over metropolitan areas.

        Federal agents are following leads that some suspects in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks had shown interest in crop-dusting planes in Florida and Minnesota, raising concerns about a potential use of them to spread chemical and biological weapons.

        Sarah Palmer, office manager at Waynesville Airport in northern Warren County, said she knows of no crop-dusters operating in the area.

        “They haven't been around here for a long time because we have so many houses now,” she said. “We don't even have that many fields any longer. I don't think it (crop-dusting) would be worth anybody's time these days. You need areas with large fields and no subdivisions.”

        Melanie Wilt, a spokeswoman for the Ohio Department of Agriculture in Columbus, said only 20 crop-dusters are licensed to operate in the state. The closest is Trump Aviation in Greenville.

        “We just don't do that (crop-dusting) around here,” said Greg Meyer, an agricultural extension agent in Warren County.

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