Spray drones gain ground: practical benefits driving adoption
While drones won’t completely replace traditional methods, they offer valuable benefits, particularly in hard-to-reach areas and in preventing soil compaction. With anticipated regulatory relaxations in the USA and improvements in drone design, the future of spray drones looks promising, if not very.
The acceptance and adoption rate of spray drones by individual farmers in the U.S. is likely to increase in the near future due to changes in regulations and technological upgrades, according to Professor Erdal Ozkan at the Ohio State University. “Using drones to spray crop-protection products is a topic of tremendous interest.”
Dr. Ozkan, Professor and Extension State Specialist in Pesticide Application Technology at The Ohio State University’s Department of Food, Agricultural and Biological Engineering, underscores that drone sprayers won’t entirely replace ground or traditional aerial application methods, but they have the potential to complement existing practices.
Local drone spraying services
Dr. Ozkan emphasizes that the future of drone spraying hinges on various factors including economic viability, timeliness in crop protection, the type of spraying (broadcast versus targeted), and the availability of local drone spraying services.
“Although drone spraying does not seem to be a viable option to compete with ground sprayers and conventional, piloted aircraft in the application of pesticides to large fields, some companies offering drone spraying indicate that their rates are competitive with or more economical than the cost of spraying done by ground equipment and conventional aircraft.”
Dr. Ozkan expects that acceptance and adoption rate of spray drones by individual farmers in the U.S. is likely to increase in the near future due to changes in regulations and technological upgrades. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) regulations and restrictions on use of drones may be eased, especially restrictions on swarming, in which multiple drones are operated by one pilot or autonomously.
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Improved design and manufacturing
Technical upgrades play an important role. Improved design and manufacturing may result in longer lasting batteries, wider spray width, higher flow rates, and faster operational speeds. Larger drones with larger sprayer tanks may be designed and possibly approved by the FAA. Upgrades to drone technology may result in improved variable-rate application, precision spot spraying and route planning, and better obstacle avoidance.
Dr. Ozkan notes that until 2023, spray drones in the United States were primarily used for applying fungicides to wheat, corn, and some soybean fields. However, he highlights ongoing investigations into using drones for spot spraying tall weeds that survive herbicide treatments.
Spot spraying
Spot spraying weeds with drones offers notable efficiency advantages over traditional methods, such as ground equipment or conventional aircraft. However, Dr. Ozkan cautions that most herbicides currently lack approval for drone use.
“None of the herbicides that can be used for post applications have approval by EPA for late season use. In addition, it’s questionable how effective herbicides would be on big weeds that presumably have some level of herbicide resistance.”
Drones have the advantage that they can reach portions of a field that cannot be reached by large, heavy ground sprayers because the soil is too wet, which happens frequently in many places in the spring, Dr. Ozkan points out.
Avoiding soil compaction
“And drone spraying may be the best choice to avoid soil compaction and crop damage caused by ground equipment traffic when spraying fields with established crop canopies. Even after the wet ground dries enough to allow the large ground sprayer to get in the field, the sprayer is likely to cause a significant level of soil compaction resulting in reduced crop yield.”
Spot spraying, variable-rate spraying, or spraying a portion of the field that does not allow heavy equipment to get in the field, all can be accomplished easily with drone spraying technology, Dr. Ozkan says.
Drones are now a viable option when choosing equipment to spray pesticides
This usually is a two-step process. First a drone with an RGB or multispectral camera flies over the field and establishes the coordinates of the area to be sprayed or the operator maps out the areas to spray on a digital map by drawing polygons. The mapped areas are then uploaded to the flight plan of the spray drone. This drone then flies over the field and its nozzles spray pesticide when the drone reaches the appropriate GPS coordinates.
Dr. Ozkan says that using drones to spray crop-protection products is a topic of tremendous interest. “Drones are now a viable option when choosing equipment to spray pesticides, and the number of companies offering drone spraying services is rapidly increasing in Ohio and other places in the United States.”
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Designs and capabilities changing rapidly
Is drone spraying currently a good option for everyone? “If you are well informed about this technology, aware of all the rules and regulations, and have viable usages identified, then consider buying one”, Dr. Ozkan says. ”Otherwise, wait until you are adequately informed about all aspects of drone spraying. As is the case with other technologies in agriculture, developments in drone sprayer designs and capabilities are changing rapidly.”
Dr. Ozkan explains that it is important to apply the technical understanding of manned aerial spraying to drones but also to understand some of the risks or variables specific to drones. “Check websites of drone sprayer manufacturers to learn about the new features of their current models”, he says. “Regulations too may change rapidly in the future because of the increasing interest in drone spraying and the high level of public demand for relaxation of current rules and regulations.”
Stay informed on research, pesticide product labels, FAA and EPA regulations, and new drone designs
Universities, government research centres, and other independent research organisations are interested in conducting research to determine if drone sprayers provide pest control that is as effective as ground sprayers or aerial spraying using conventional aircraft. “This research will provide much more reliable information on this topic than what is available now.”
Dr. Ozkan advises growers to stay up to date by regularly checking in with the appropriate resources. “Stay informed on research, pesticide product labels, FAA and EPA regulations, and new drone designs. Visit the FAA website to check current regulations governing the use of spray drones.”
“Remember that drone spraying is one form of aerial spraying, that people using spray drones must comply with aerial labelling, and that there have been no labels developed in the United States for spray drones yet.”
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