The Rise of Digital Farming: A Season Calendar for Drone Spraying and Fertilizing

Whether a farm drone pays off depends on how many different jobs and how much area it covers in a year. Because the same drone can spray, apply liquid fertilizer, spread granules and sow seed, a well-planned season calendar greatly increases its use. Here is an example plan for common crops.

Wheat and Barley

• Late winter / early spring: granular top-dressing, especially when fields are too wet for tractors.
• Spring: weed control with herbicides, watching for drift onto sensitive neighbouring crops.
• Heading: fungicides against rust, septoria and head blight; sunn pest control. No wheel-track losses is a major gain at this stage.

Maize

• Early season: weed control.
• After the crop grows tall: pest control and foliar feeding when tractor access becomes difficult.

Rice

• Sowing: direct seeding with the spreading system.
• Through the season: fertilizer spreading, weed, disease and pest control in flooded fields. Rice is one of the most efficient uses of drones.

Orchards

Hazelnut groves and orchards can be treated with suitable equipment and settings. See our article on orchard spraying by drone.

Switching from Spraying to Spreading

On current DJI Agras models the liquid tank and spreading hopper can be swapped in minutes. Clean the tank and pumps thoroughly and calibrate flow before spreading.

Capacity Planning

Several jobs can fall in the same week, for example wheat fungicides and maize herbicides. Map out your yearly calendar and calculate the total area in your busiest week to choose the right model and number of batteries.

Regulatory Reminder

SHGM registration, a suitable UAV pilot certificate and label and ministry rules for crop protection products apply to every job. See How to Use an Agricultural Drone.

For year-round use, the Agras T50 and Agras T55 stand out. See all models on our spraying and spreading drones page.