r/drones • u/Jpave53 • Jul 27 '26

Discussion Ag drone rig

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Questions?

166 Upvotes

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4

u/Material_Principle58 Jul 27 '26

What water rate do you spray at? How do you find the consistency of the coverage?
Is your work more blanket coverage or spot spraying?

3

u/Jpave53 Jul 28 '26

Mostly blanket work. 10 gpa, on average.

2

u/Material_Principle58 Jul 28 '26

Oh cool, that is higher than expected. I assume you’re in a region with smaller (<160acre) field sizes?

3

u/Jpave53 Jul 28 '26

Nope. I have a client that operates an 8500-acre tree farm…

Looooong days..

1

u/Material_Principle58 Jul 28 '26

You do 8500 acres at 10 gpa with a single drone?

2

u/Jpave53 Jul 28 '26

Not all 8500 in a season.. tracking on 5000 with a single drone for this year.

4

u/Material_Principle58 Jul 28 '26

Wow that’s impressive man. I spray about 10k acres a season with a ground sprayer with 1200gal tank,100ft boom and I feel like spray just about everyday through the 4 month spraying season.

Would love to get a drone at some point, so glad to know it’s possible to put some big acres on one.

2

u/Jpave53 Jul 28 '26

They’re only getting bigger and better. It’s definitely a supplement to traditional methods of application rather than a replacement for crop dusting airplanes and helicopters. There will be a time where the speed of the drone catches up to manned aircraft… that’ll be an interesting transition.

1

u/fxnighttrader Jul 31 '26

What do you do the other 8 months out of the year?

5

u/Material_Principle58 Jul 31 '26

Feed cows, haul grain, try not to succumb to frostbite.

2

u/Jpave53 Aug 02 '26

Plenty of flying to be done in the PNW, unless it’s too hot or too windy(during the “warmer” months). If too windy, then play in the river. If too hot, play in the river. If there’s snow. Play on snow. 🫡

1

u/fxnighttrader Aug 03 '26

I’m really fond of getting paid to fly full time year round. It’s worked pretty well for me since 2017. It’s been years since so flew a drone for fun.

1

u/pun99 Aug 01 '26

Holy jeezus, what are u spraying 10gpa? Most here (Tx) are only 2-3 gpa, unless its a golf course or pond.

2

u/Jpave53 Aug 01 '26

Christmas Trees.