Dust swirled as the 83-pound drone launched from a clearing near a Nebraska cornfield. With its four propellers humming, Paige Browning used a handheld controller to move the drone across the field, spraying a mist of fungicide on the crops below. 

“You think in your head it’s going to be fun — cool job, right?” said Browning, a Nebraska rancher who started flying agricultural drones two years ago with her father and uncle. “But when you get into the nitty gritty and actually doing it, it’s a very dirty job.”

Browning is one of around 1,000 pilots authorized to fly agricultural drones in the U.S., according to a spokesperson with the Federal Aviation Administration. Around 85% of those pilots were approved last year. 

Agricultural drones can cost between $30,000 and $50,000 but are still cheaper than traditional crop-dusting airplanes. The drones can also spread chemicals and seeds more efficiently by getting closer to the ground, especially when dealing with hilly terrain, telephone poles and oddly shaped fields.

However, the agricultural drone industry is much more complex than traditional “backyard” drones flown by hobbyists. With a width sometimes exceeding 35 feet, the drones can cause significant damage in a crash. Flight patterns must also be carefully monitored as the chemicals they spread can be toxic to farmworkers on the ground. 

Federal regulators are struggling to keep up with the emerging technology and the flood of pilot applications, which topped 1,200 during the first six months of 2024, according to an Investigate Midwest analysis of records in October. 

But just as the agricultural drone industry has started to take off, a proposed federal ban last year on Chinese manufacturers threatened to ground much of the sector. 

“We’ve been working really hard to educate various members of Congress in the House and the Senate as well as in the USDA about the benefits of spray drones,” said Mariah Scott, CEO of Rantizo, an Iowa-based drone dealer. “These are really useful tools that are creating great jobs in rural communities. They’re helping farmers treat their acres more efficiently and more cost-effectively.”

Before getting a specific Agricultural Aircraft Operator Certificate, which allows a drone pilot to use chemicals, a person must first complete training and secure a basic drone license. 

At the start of last year’s summer growing season, at least 200 pilots were still waiting for the specific certificate, according to federal records obtained by Investigate Midwest. 

Desperate, some pilots chose to fly anyway.

Several pilots told Investigate Midwest they had illegally flown agricultural drones or suggested they knew others who did. The pilots are not named in the story because they feared penalties ranging from fines to permit denials.

An FAA spokesperson said pilots who fly illegally could face fines up to $30,000.

“The FAA looks into all reports of unauthorized drone operations and investigates when appropriate,” an FAA spokesperson wrote in a statement. 

Dealers promoting the new technology and its business opportunities have aided the growth of the agricultural drone industry. The dealers often advertise their ability to help new pilots obtain their certificates quickly. 

“If you wait until June (to start your business), it just takes longer than you think it will,” said Isaac Strubbe, a drone pilot who became a dealer last year. “July hits, and legally, you can’t do anything about it.”

Drone proponents call Chinese fears unfounded, worry ban would sink industry

Despite the increased demand for agricultural drones, a volatile regulatory environment could limit growth.

Last year, one version of the U.S. House’s National Defense Authorization Act included a ban on Chinese-manufactured drones. DJI Agriculture, a Chinese-based company, manufactures around 70% of the nation’s agricultural drones.

Lawmakers behind the proposed ban warned the Chinese government could remotely use drones to attack or spy on the United States.

However, many in the drone industry have called those fears unfounded.

“One of the things that we’ve seen claimed is that these drones could be somehow remotely taken over and directed to go apply (harmful) chemicals to our food supply,” said Scott, the Iowa-based drone dealer. “But the drones aren’t connected on a network, so they’re not centrally controlled.” 

Scott also points out that an agricultural drone’s battery life is about 10 minutes and that a nearby operator would need to fill its tank with chemicals for such an attack to be possible. 

“When you put those things together, the idea that somehow a swarm of spray drones could be remotely commandeered and would go spray things is just not true,” Scott said.

As for spying, critics of the proposed ban point out that agricultural drones aren’t used to collect imagery and that most field data is publicly available through the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

“There has been no factual evidence suggesting that data collected by agricultural drones is being provided to the Chinese government,” said Bryan Sanders, president of HSE-UAV, an agricultural drone seller, and a member of the American Spray Drone Coalition. “On the contrary, companies like DJI have proactively (and voluntarily) implemented geofence flight restrictions for restricted airspace, demonstrating a commitment to security, not espionage.”

Formed earlier this year, the American Spray Drone Coalition lobbied against the proposed ban. 

The organization said the companies in its coalition represent 80% of the U.S. drone spraying market, including Agri Spray Drones, Bestway Ag, Drone Nerds and Pegasus Robotics.

Drone efficiency could improve waste and benfit environment

Agricultural drone proponents also believe the industry could benefit the environment. A 2021 study by the University of Iowa’s Department of Occupational and Environmental Health found that spray drones may substantially reduce chemical drift compared to conventional ground-based spray systems.

“As farms grow larger, so will their dependence on precision agriculture and broader application technologies provided by outside labor forces, including UAV application,” the study said.

However, more research needs to be done to confirm the strengths and tradeoffs, said Erdal Ozkan, a pesticide application professor at Ohio State University.

“I cannot say clearly that drift is going to be much reduced with the drones compared to ground application because there are not enough experiments conducted by third-party universities and other research organizations,” Ozkan said.

However, spraying efficiency could increase as technology advances, Ozkan said, especially as drones become more capable of moving autonomously in groups – a process known as swarming.

While most popular for spraying pesticides and fungicides, some drone models also come with tanks for solid materials, allowing pilots to spread seeds for cover crops. Others use drones to spray paint the roofs of livestock sheds to reflect more sunlight and reduce heat risks to the animals inside.

Beyond crops, agricultural drones can also spray mosquito and fly repellent for livestock. Browning, the Nebraska drone pilot, said her family volunteers their services to churches to spray for bugs around cemeteries.

The volunteer work has helped their business expand through word of mouth. Her family has traveled up to 100 miles from their home for a spray job.

“It’s definitely harder to do all of this than it seems,” Browning said. “It’s a great idea and all of that, but it’s not easy.” 

The post As the agricultural drone industry takes off, federal regulators struggle to keep up appeared first on Investigate Midwest.