Crop spraying refers to the process of spraying chemical solutions to protect crops from pests and diseases. There a few alternative terms that can be used to describe this activity. One of them is "crop dusting" which is commonly used in North America. Another term is "aerial spraying" which denotes the use of airplanes and helicopters to apply chemicals. The term "agricultural spraying" refers to spraying operations carried out in the field, either by tractor-mounted or manual sprayers. Finally, the term "chemical application" refers broadly to the process of applying chemicals to crops, including crop spraying, but also other methods such as seed treatment and soil fumigation.