Drones in Agriculture; The Future, or Over-Rated?

Drone usage across multiple different industries is expanding rapidly, especially as new software becomes available to make them more powerful and efficient. Agriculture has been no exception, with drone discussions sprouting up all over the industry. The question is, how useful are drones in agriculture currently, and do they have a chance of becoming the future of farming? Or are drones just an over-hyped concept that will be yesterday’s news in the next few years?

To begin, let’s start with the most commonly identified use cases for the makes and models available today. Over the last few years, several uses for drones have been identified on the ranch and farm, covering everything from spraying to scouting.

While drones can work in and avoid rough field conditions, they instead must deal with additional weather and temperature related concerns. Not all drones are completely water-resistant, and heavy rain is problematic for most drones. Heavy wind can keep a drone from being able to fly, or knock it off course, and snow or fog can make it more difficult to keep line of sight on your drone. For drone operation, having decent weather is extremely helpful, and rough weather can throw off your schedule completely.

Additionally, extreme temperatures in either direction can cause problems for drones with electric batteries. Many drones tend to have their batteries overheat in very hot weather, or drain faster during colder weather. Rough temperatures can also lead to problems in other parts of the drone, such as plastic pieces not holding up as well in heavy cold, and internal motors and circuitry overheating in the heat.

With these considerations, agricultural drone operators have to be incredibly mindful of the weather and temperature conditions to avoid damage to the drone and inefficient operations. This can lead to scheduling issues, which can be problematic during crunch time.

So Where do drones compare to more traditional equipment? One major problem most current agricultural drones have is their battery life and corresponding flight time. With most lasting anywhere from five minutes up to heavy-duty drones lasting thirty, it does not leave much time for the drone to be in the air. Constant recharging and returning to base eat up spraying time, and refilling the smaller tanks requires a minute or so as well, though some additional equipment can speed the refilling process up considerably.

Swarming drones helps to alleviate some of the speed issues, however, with current regulations an exemption is required for this, making it more difficult to start utilizing. Most drones just do not seem to be able to keep up with more traditional equipment when it comes to spraying and spreading speeds, and tend to focus more on precise application in difficult locations.

While the most basic of scouting drones can be fairly affordable, the more exotic and heavy-duty drones equipped with all the fancy gadgets, or specialized for spraying and spreading can be fairly expensive. This also does not take into account any additional machinery required to get things rolling, such as a fast charging generator, a system to load the drones chemical or ground spread, and a trailer to get the equipment out to the field. For an example of some of the extra equipment commonly used, take a look at some of the drone trailers that Apex Drones offers on their site. For a farmer who might already have purchased some of the traditional equipment, this can be a hefty starting price.

Just because you have purchased the equipment does not mean the expenditures stop there. Like any machine, parts will give out, and repairs will be needed. Batteries also tend to go bad after a while, no longer holding as much charge or failing altogether. New drone batteries are typically not the cheapest, though the price depends on the model.

Newer industries often advance technologically far faster than regulation can keep up, with AI being a great example. Agricultural drones are no exception to this. One of the largest hurdles for new drone operators is getting their licenses obtained and sorted. Additionally, as drones are as classified as aircraft, anyone planning on operating a drone will need to obtain a remote pilot certificate which involves passing the FAA’s Aeronautical Knowledge test. This requirement promotes airspace safety, which is good, but it also greatly increases the time commitment required to start operating drones on the farm and ranch.

Besides licensing requirements, some of the current regulations can limit the potential of agricultural drone use. Currently, one operator per drone is required, and they must maintain a line of sight to the drone while piloting, which can make drone operations more difficult. While many of the limitations set for drones have exemption opportunities, the operator still has to go through the bureaucratic process to get each exemption set which can be time-consuming.

Enhanced Coverage Option (ECO) received several new changes going into the 2025 crop year, and its a doozy. New crops were added to work with ECO, and the premium subsidy increased to 65%! For more information on some of the changes, visit our ECO update information page, or learn more about ECO on our product page.