What Is an Agricultural Drone and What Does It Do?

An agricultural drone is an unmanned aerial vehicle built specifically for farm work such as spraying, fertilizer spreading, seeding and field mapping. Unlike hobby or camera drones, it carries a liquid tank or granule hopper of tens of litres, applies product at a set rate and swath width, and flies a pre-planned route automatically with centimetre-level accuracy.

This article covers what a farm drone is, its main components, how it works and what it is used for. For a step-by-step look at a spraying flight, see How to Use an Agricultural Drone; for the benefits, see Advantages of Agricultural Drones.

How Farm Drones Differ from Other Drones

Two kinds of drones are used in agriculture. Scouting and mapping drones carry a camera or multispectral sensor and turn field images into maps. Application drones carry crop protection products, liquid fertilizer or granules and apply them to the field. In Türkiye, "agricultural drone" usually means the second group.

Fully loaded, application drones typically weigh well over 50 kg at take-off, so a rugged frame, powerful motors, dust- and water-resistant electronics and obstacle sensing are standard.

Main Components

Frame, motors and propellers

Folding arms make transport easy. Large propellers create a strong downwash that pushes droplets into the canopy and onto the underside of leaves.

Tank and spraying system

A liquid tank, pumps and nozzles or centrifugal atomizers. On current models droplet size is adjustable and a weight sensor shows the remaining load in real time.

Spreading system

A granule hopper with a spinning disc replaces the liquid tank to spread fertilizer, seed or feed. Switching between spraying and spreading takes only minutes.

Positioning and sensing

GNSS with RTK correction keeps the drone on track to the centimetre, avoiding gaps and overlaps. Radar and vision sensors detect obstacles and keep a constant height over the crop on slopes.

Remote controller, batteries and charger

Route planning, rate settings and flight monitoring are handled on the controller. Smart batteries recharge in about ten minutes, so two or three batteries are enough for continuous work.

How Does It Work?

First the field boundary is defined, by walking the edge, marking points on the controller or using a map made with the drone's own camera. The operator enters the application rate, flight height, speed and swath width, and the software generates the route. The drone flies it, records where it stopped when the tank or battery runs low, returns, and resumes after refilling.

The pilot supervises the whole flight and intervenes for wind, obstacles or anything unexpected. A farm drone is not a "fly and forget" machine; it works best with a correct prescription, suitable weather and a trained pilot.

What Is It Used For?

• Spraying: fungicides, insecticides and herbicides, especially in wet or flooded fields and on slopes where tractors cannot enter.
• Foliar and liquid fertilizer: fast application at critical growth stages.
• Granular fertilizer: spreading urea or ammonium nitrate without driving on the field.
• Seeding: direct-seeded rice, pasture renovation and cover crops.
• Mapping and scouting: field boundaries, crop variability and variable-rate prescription maps.

Where Is It Used in Türkiye?

Weed and disease control in wheat and barley, rice in Thrace and the Black Sea region, cotton, maize, sunflower, hazelnut groves and orchards are the most common applications. Being able to treat a field on time when it is too wet for a tractor often makes the difference in yield.

Which Model Should You Choose?

The choice depends on annual area, field size, crop mix and whether you plan to offer contract services. For large areas and service businesses, the high-capacity DJI Agras T50 or the current Agras T55 stand out; very large operations can consider the Agras T70P. You can compare all models on our spraying and spreading drones page.

Daze Tarım is the official distributor of DJI Agriculture, FJDynamics and LOVOL in Türkiye. Contact our team for model selection, pilot training and after-sales service.