Aerial ag: UAVs taking on crop dusting duties in Northern Illinois fields

Each summer, the skies around the Illinois Valley fill with yellow planes dodging power lines, making loud, distinctive sounds and spraying crop fields with pesticides, herbicides and fungicides.

Recently, they’ve been joined by unmanned aircraft buzzing through the fields. Large drones or unmanned aerial vehicles are popping up alongside the ears of corn throughout Northern Illinois.

The UAV’s are applying pesticides, insecticides, herbicides and fertilizers, water, dry fertilizer or other crop treatments with precision and accuracy.

Mike Pack, drone operator at Sun Ag Inc. in McNabb, uses a DJ AGRAS T40 that combines mapping, spraying and spreading functions, while using a UHD camera and adjustable gimbal to enable easy capture the desired view.

“The drone has a 10-gallon tank and can provide two gallons of coverage per acre,” said Pack. “The operation is fully programmable and it will fly and spray by itself.“

Battery life can be a hindrance, however, as the unit only provides a seven-minute flight time.

“Remote pilots need to constantly keep batteries charged and have an abundance of them,” Pack said.

Agriculture companies with drones need to have trained professionals, and remote pilots must pass the Federal Aviation Administration exams that govern the use of aircraft, including drones, to dispense or spray substances. While remote pilots are exempted from some rules that don’t apply to unmanned aircraft, the FAA certificate is the same.

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Agriculture remote pilots are also licensed aerial pesticide applicators through the Illinois Department of Agriculture and must be insured.

Silas Steiner went into the spray drone business in 2023 while launching his company Thrive, located in El Paso, Illinois. Steiner has always been passionate about agriculture and fascinated by the growing industry of precision technology using drones. Steiner thinks the current technology won’t replace the airplane but is much safer.

“While drones have and will keep getting bigger and faster, it takes a fleet of multiple drones to be able to spray as many acres as a single airplane or helicopter can in a single day,” Steiner said. “Unmanned aircraft have their advantage when it comes to getting closer to tree lines, power lines and any other obstacles that may be in or border a field. Drones are also a much safer option. While we still have to be cautious when landing and filling the drones there is little risk of a pilot getting hurt during the operation.”

Drones and helicopters that carry aerial application can have a greater impact on the accuracy of the spray. The company is a precision agriculture company offering drone application services, business development for drone operators, and custom-formulated drone-specific products.

Tyce Barkman, an employee at SweetWater Technologies Powered by Gripp in Wyanet, doesn’t think drones will take over everything, but they’ll have an impact.

“I believe drones will someday replace the airplane but not the helicopter,” Barkman said.

The future of using drones for aerial applications has its advantages and disadvantages. The crop duster hasn’t made its final approach yet, but with the use of drones, it is possible it may disappear.

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