Crowds gather at a nearby field. The sun is bright, the air warm, and the corn grows taller each day. Out of the trees comes the main event. It’s a bird! It’s a plane! It’s a drone sprayer?
Like a superhero of modern agriculture, drone sprayers are revolutionizing the way farmers apply pesticides and protect crops. As they become more popular in the United States, drone sprayers offer farmers a solution to the unique problems their operation may face.
History of Drone Sprayers
Drone spraying first gained momentum in the rice fields of East Asia. Drones gave the farmers a cost-effective way to spray wet fields without exposing their workers to pesticides.
Erdal Ozkan, professor and Extension state specialist of pesticide application at The Ohio State University, said drones were not adopted into American agriculture until about six years ago. Drone spraying is in its infancy in the United States, but it has great potential to aid farming operations.
How They Work
Drone sprayers are outfitted with a tank, hoses, control system, Global Positioning Systems (GPS) and nozzles. The operator uses a controller to communicate with the spray drone from a distance. When the drone runs out of liquid, it is programmed to return to a location called “home base,” where the operator can then refill the tank and send it back to the field.
Many growers do not purchase or operate the technology themselves, but utilize it through their local cooperative, retailer or an independent spray service provider. Drone pilots must obtain two licenses through the Federal Aviation Association (FAA). The first is a Part 107 License (a remote pilot certificate) and the second a Part 137 License (Dispensing Chemicals and Agricultural Products).
Benefits
Brennan Scott, agronomy tech associate at Heritage Cooperative, said that conventional spraying is used and preferred by most farmers. Conventional spraying has specific limitations, but drone sprayers can help fill in these gaps.
“When it comes to the mature, tall corn that the ground rigs can’t get overtop of, or a small field that are not feasible for a plane, the drone is best suited to serve in those positions,” Scott said.
Due to their easy navigational systems and small structure, drones can spray in hard-to-reach areas.
“In areas where there is horticultural production, the fruit trees and grape plants are usually on a sloped area,” Ozkan said. “For that, drones make [spraying] so simple compared to conventional sprayers. When you have a sloped field, you won’t be using the same application that people use when they have flat ground.”
Drones use precision technology to ensure the fields are sprayed correctly without overlapping areas. This technology minimizes waste, environmental impacts and input costs. It can also be programmed to only spray the portions of the field that need it.
Limitations
Compared to East Asia, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has numerous restrictions against spray drone usage. In order to operate a drone, the operator must obtain a waiver, which is a lengthy process. There are also a limited number of products available for aerial application. Due to the small capacity of their tanks, drone sprayers have a low application rate compared to conventional methods.
Additionally, operators must take into consideration the battery life of the drone.
“Fully burdened drones require a lot of energy to stay aloft which results in rapid depletion of batteries,” said Robert Mullen, vice president of agricultural technology at Heritage Cooperative.
With high equipment costs, one of the most common concerns among growers is price.
“Some service providers say [using spray drones] is as economical as using ground application,” Ozkan said. “So far, the price has not been the major factor slowing down the proliferation of this technology among farmers.”
Looking Ahead
Where are drone sprayers expected to go in the future? The Crop Spraying Drones Global Market Report forecasts that the global drone spraying market will increase at a compound annual growth rate of 35.1% for the next four years.
As more research is conducted and technology advances, drone sprayers will become more accessible to growers and service providers.
Mullen said the future of drone application is swarm deployment, the practice of operating multiple drones at once.
“As a drone pilot, you can operate multiple drones simultaneously in the same field,” Mullen said. “Every drone in the air requires a pilot and a visual observer. We have to have two labor resources committed for that drone to be operational. If I can get to where the drone pilot has two drones in the air, we can be more efficient economically and more efficient in application.”
Recently, an unexpected policy change was thrown into the plans of American drone operators. Congress recently passed legislation banning use of all Da-Jiang Innovations (DJI) drones, which are produced by a Chinese company and make up 80% of the agricultural drone supply. Pesticide application experts say that the future implications of this law is unknown, but it adds an additional barrier into the development of drone spray technology.
As drone spraying evolves, there is opportunity for intense growth. Though challenges remain, the technology's potential to increase environmental safety and boost efficiency ensures that this agricultural superhero’s journey is just getting started.