I to have had a desire to get into ag flying for a long time. It is a long and hard road to a seat, unless of course you know someone, like Daddy.
There are a few schools out there. Although some beleive it's a waist of money. School is a good way for a crash course on the business. You'll get around 50 hours in a few ag-planes, but it will not guarantee you a working seat.
Most insurance company's require 1000 ag time. I'm told there are a few ways to obtain this. First you need some good tail wheel training. You could then purchase yourself an ag-airplane. There are some Cessna's (preferable with GPS) out there in the $20 to $30,000 range (Beware). Hire on with an operator as ground crew and get him, or one of his pilots to spend some time with you. As you can see, with a lot of money and time, and more money, you might get to spray in a few years, with a lot of money.
Another way is go to school, then one Saturday set down and fly that 1000 hours. I read an NTSB final report the other day about a guy that finished ag-school with 500tt. Got killed in a cessna the next month by tearing the left wing off trying to climb through some pine trees. This was his first load for revenue. The report said he had logged 1087 hours within the last 30 day prior to the accident.
I was talking with the operator my brother flys for one day. He says, so you want to be a crop duster huh? Yes sir I say. You been studying them book's he ask. Yes sir I say. He goes away and returns with the upper 1/3 of a cessna rudder that my brother took off with a wire. He says here take this, go home and throw all them book away, study this piece of rudder for a while, and if you really want to be a crop duster, you come back next week with a 1000 hours ag time in your log book and I'll give you a job.
I started a thread here last week titled Aerial Application. I thought there would be a lot of response, but only Avbug and one other guy replyed.
The bowl weevil eradication program is about the best way in, but this is starting to phase down. This BWEP has started a lot of new pilots. The down side to this is they are for sure to garnish you wage to cover things you might break, and insurance. The bad thing is that all these contracts are for the most part just maintenance now, and most pilots don't get much over a 100 hours in the season, if that.
You could visit
www.ag-aviation-online.com. or
www.agairupdate.com and learn a lot. There is always conversation about this subject at AAO. AAU requires you to subscribe to post on the bulletin board though.
This industry is faced with a lot of hardships right now. It's a hard way to make a living but can be very rewarding also. The good thing about this good old USA is that a man can do just about anything he puts his mind to. With a well made plan, diligence, and sacrifice you can do it.
Good Luck!