Drones are the latest in must-have farming tools

Farmers are not saving up for new tractors anymore—they are investing in drones.

“It could cost you 15, 25 even 40,000 dollars, but the farmers who see them, instantly see the value in it,” said Andrew Amato, the editor-in-chief and general manager of Dronelife.com.

Today drone usage is mostly experimental, he said. Businesses selling drones range from teenagers who program toys for gadget enthusiasts to international corporations such as PrecisionHawk. But over the next five to 10 years, Amato believes agriculture will be the first industry to seriously invest in unmanned aerial vehicles, which have a variety of uses.

A farmer can use a drone to fly laps around a field, generating noise to scare away unwanted critters. Using certain sensors, a drone can tell farmers which sections are more susceptible to insect damage, letting them know where to concentrate pesticides. Flying 300 feet above a cornfield, a drone could tell farmers down to the square inch, which root needs more water.

The biggest concerns prohibiting drone use in the United States are invasion of privacy and the safety of people underneath flight paths. But Amato said those concerns aren't relevant when using a drone in expansive farming fields.

“When you’re flying out over these massive fields, there is no one else around you,” Amato said. “There is no one to spy on, there is no other plane using the air space, there are no people out there to crash into.”

In a worst case scenario, a farmer crashing a drone might destroy crops, making it the perfect testing environment for more widespread drone use, Amato said.

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is working to put together concrete rules for the budding drone industry. FAA rules now prohibit drones from presenting an unreasonable safety risk. Each aircraft must stay under 400 feet, and the operator must keep it in sight and cannot fly near crowds of people. In some cases, the FAA also requires drone operators to obtain an “airworthiness certificate.” To get the certificate, pilots must complete a background check, demonstrate they know how to fly and operate the drone, and provide a description of where they intend to operate it.

Amato sees the learning curve as one of the only factors holding back agricultural drone use. Farmers don’t want to learn how to fly drones, he said. They don’t even want to touch them. And with time and money in short supply for many farmers, the investment has to be worth it.

“They just want to touch a button on their phone and have it do what it … has been programmed to do,” Amato said. “It takes training to learn how to use this new tool. It’s like a tractor really.”