Rising Careers for Women in Agricultural Drones

For years, women in rural areas have had limited access to the decision-making and technology side of farming due to few job opportunities, traditional role expectations and heavy physical work. FAO data indicate that the gender pay gap is wider in agriculture than in other sectors.

Farm drones are starting to change this. Planning and managing a drone requires technical knowledge, attention and planning more than physical strength, opening new career paths as pilots, trainers and service entrepreneurs.

Women Pilots in Numbers

According to Women and Drones, about 6.7% of certified remote pilots in the US are women. Comprehensive global data on women in agricultural drone operations is not yet available, but examples are growing. The stories below are compiled from career stories shared by DJI Agriculture.

Senay İnan: An Agricultural Drone Trainer from Türkiye

A mechatronics engineer in Istanbul, Senay İnan became an Agras pilot in 2021 and a trainer in 2022. She says becoming a professional pilot took about a year, and she has trained around 2,000 students for UAV pilot certificates since 2021. She faced prejudice about strength and technical competence, but believes patience and attention are strengths for women trainers. One memorable experience: in May 2021, a caterpillar outbreak in sunflower fields that would have taken weeks to treat conventionally was handled with drones in about two weeks.

Tracey Beer: From Family Farm to Drone Pilot in the US

After more than 30 years as a paralegal in Oklahoma, Tracey Beer became an agricultural drone pilot in 2023 after losing her job. She replaced conventional spraying on her family farm with drones and set up a drone spraying business with her sister, adding income and more family time.

Jennifer Joy Subang: Drone Entrepreneur in the Philippines

After working for a multinational banana exporter, Subang returned to the family farm and saw how hard weekly fungicide spraying was on rough terrain. Unable to find a reliable drone service, she founded her own company. Work with a rice research institute showed that drone seeding could cut seed rates from 80-150 kg to 40 kg per hectare.

Opportunities in Türkiye

In Türkiye too, drone piloting and spraying services can be a new income source for rural women. First steps include:

• UAV pilot certificate training in line with SHGM rules.
• Learning the safe use of crop protection products.
• Hands-on drone training in the field.

Learn the basics in What Is an Agricultural Drone? and the workflow in How to Use an Agricultural Drone. Explore suitable models on our spraying drones page, for example the Agras T50.