Farming Drones

I priced up the various components to build one of those with a 20L sprayer (all CE marked) and it would cost approx €3,500 - that was about 2 years ago so I'm sure it's probably doubled, or tripled! I'm not sure what they're charging for an out-of-the-box solution, but I would hazard a guess that it's around €15- €20k. Then you have the software licensing such as pix4D or drone deploy on top of that if you really want to maximise the investment.

I had started to build a drone similar to the DJI Phantom and it was coming in at around €200, that's without the high spec cameras - I had a 4k camera which I would need to test. This is for the father-in-law to send out looking for the herd, or checking the gutters / shed roofs. With a proper camera suitable for NDVI analysis, he could check for drainage issues, grass/crop health etc, but I put it on the long finger due to work being so busy, and I knew this would end up being a rod for my own back!

I also had quite a few conversations with the IAA regarding the legality and requirements, these might be interesting for anyone considering getting a drone.

Scenario 1: Class C2 drone operating on their own property in a rural setting within Visual Line Of Sight (VLOS) and under 400ft

Interpretation: Subcategory A3. Drone must be CE marked and operator must be over 16, registered as a user and pass the open category competency requirements. 

Scenario 2: Class C2 drone operating within VLOS and under 400ft – rural location but the land is separated so it may pass over other people’s land and/ or homesteads (intention is to avoid if possible) 

Interpretation:  Subcategory A3. Drone must be CE marked and operator must be over 16, registered as a user and pass the open category competency requirements. [clarifications] does the user need to account for GDPR.

Scenario 3: Class C3 Operating on their own property in a rural setting within VLOS and under 400ft. No uninvolved people present but the drone is being used to spray pesticide/ spread fertiliser / seeds - the drone is being used for targeted application, rather than bulk application. The container is crash tested and the contents are non-toxic.

Interpretation: Specific category with a risk analysis [Clarifications] Is this covered by a PDRA or does it require a SORA analysis? This kind of operation is available already using a DJI Argas series with dronedeploy, so there may be a PDRA available. Interpretation is that it's open use if it's not transporting dangerous/ toxic material.

Scenario 4: Class 3 Operating on their own property in a rural setting but the drone is being used BVLOS and using GPS/ GLASNOS – This is a manned operation but the drone may pass over other people’s lands and possibly regional roads, is this in the specific category?  

Interpretation: Specific category with a risk analysis - There appear to be PDRA's for this type of operation but they limit the distance to 2km [Clarifications] is it possible to operate beyond 2km or does this require a SORA risk analysis? Also, does the operator need to account for GDPR.

Final point regarding VLOS - if your drone is out of sight, but you have another person with whom you are in contact within VLOS, then this can be deemed as still within VLOS as long as the contact channel remains open.

On your own land, no uninvolved people, within VLOS and under 400ft... you could argue just having open category competency requirements should be enough. The reality is that if you're rural and away from the general public... who is going to see you. The only drawback is that you must register a drone of its greater than a toy drone and they would see that it's a sprayer drone. The legislation is terrible... its not something that has been given much thought and its so confusing and contradictory.

My advice, go to a specialist drone training school and they should know what you need.