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WarrenUAS, at Warren Community College (NJ), is playing a key role in advancing the new technology through professional training and hands-on work with farmers to expand their understanding of it and gain insight about new ways it can satisfy needs in the agriculture sector.

while we wait for the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to release its much-anticipated Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) for Part 108, ), it would be good to focus on what business models are making money today.

Agricultural Spray Distributors Form Grassroots Group to Oppose Proposed Chinese Drone Ban

The FAA recently approved the use of multiple unmanned aircraft on a single farm, promising to make it easier to manage large fields. But regulators say the technology is weighed down by a lot of unknowns.

The agricultural drone market is not only already a leader for drone technology, offering unparalleled benefits across diverse sub-industries such as crop farming, livestock management, fishery, hunting, and forestry.

Approval to deploy up to three drones weighing more than 55 pounds simultaneously with a single pilot and without visual observers, which also allows for nighttime operations.

"the prospect of using robotics and related systems in place of human intelligence to perform tasks and solve problems is seen by many as key to increasing efficiency, enhancing safety, and delivering exceptional return on investment in a broad range of commercial operations."

Schools are providing comprehensive training on uncrewed systems to enable agriculture students and farming professionals to learn how to fly a drone, how to collect and analyze drone-derived data, and how to adapt to the technology to improve spraying, crop monitoring, and other applications.

Farming operations are turning to uncrewed systems because of their ability to produce "remarkable improvements in production, efficiency, and revenue within the agricultural cycle.

Over the past several years, drones have played an increasingly important role in ensuring that farmers can maintain high crop yields in an environmentally sustainable manner, the CEO of agricultural drone company Hylio said in an interview.

As the Drone Nerds' ElevateUAV Summit kicked off in Miami this morning, the Keynote speech highlighted fastest growing verticals in the commercial drone industry.

Ericsson (NASDAQ: ERIC) and the Aerial Experimentation and Research Platform for Advanced Wireless (AERPAW), funded by the National Science Foundation and a consortium of industry partners, have announced a collaboration on advancing the use of 5G for drone operations in support of smart agriculture.

Real-Time Kinematic (RTK) is a buzz term in the UA industry, one many pilots may not understand, even though they may be "mapping" with an uncrewed aircraft (drone).   When it comes to RTK and drone mapping, how necessary is the technology to a drone services provider?  Will it earn a services provider more money?
The following is a guest post by drone industry veteran Douglas Spotted Eagle, Production and Education Director at Sundance Media Group.  DRONELIFE neither accepts nor makes payment for guest posts.

A total fleet of 100 units of drone sprayers has been recently fulfilled by XAG, making it the single largest order of drones for agricultural use in the history of Ukraine. XAG has been working with local businesses to meet the rapidly increasing demand for drone spraying service. The technology is believed to boost crop yields and lower input costs due to high fuel prices. An adequate provision of such autonomous equipment can help farmers better prepare for the upcoming agricultural season.

The North Dakota Department of Commerce announced today it has selected Grand Farm as a recipient of the department's Autonomous Agriculture Technology Matching Grant. 

XAG, the trailblazers of agriculture robotics and AI, has geared up to launch its V40 and P40 Agricultural Drone globally, bringing digital agriculture into more rural areas with aging populations and weak infrastructure. The XAG V40 and P40 are fully autonomous drones that can conduct mapping, spraying, and broadcast on farm. They are designed in supporting farmers' transition to climate-smart practices, driving greater growth with lower carbon footprints and less agrochemical.

Artificial intelligence-driven drone has started revolutionizing Philippines' rice farming n as Bayer Crop Science (BCS) completed a "drone seeding" demonstration in Paniqui, Tarlac that is significantly eliminating costly and time-consuming labor in rice planting.

A Chattanooga-based company is using satellite technology to help farmers in the Sequatchie Valley.

To meet the growing demand for drone use in business, the University of Wyoming Board of Trustees this past summer approved the launch of geospatial information science and technology programs. New programs, which began this fall, are offered in the areas of geographic information system, remote sensing and UAS, better known as drones.

The potential uses for drones or unmanned aircraft systems in agriculture have been discussed extensively in the past 10 years. One of the potential uses that hasn't been fully fleshed out in the U.S. is pesticide applications.

AgEagle Aerial Systems Inc., a provider of UAVs and advanced aerial imagery, data collection and analytics solutions, will locate and expand its manufacturing operations in Wichita, Kansas.

On Aug. 14, Kansas-based AgEagle Aerial Systems reported its second-quarter earnings. So far in 2020, UAVS stock has soared 400%. Long-term investors who aren't too risk-averse  may consider buying the shares on weakness.

Whether it's for examining high-voltage power lines and natural gas pipelines, or seeding and spraying crops in a field, drones are getting a lot of attention, in Iowa and elsewhere.

Prior to 2020, AgEagle Aerial Systems was mostly known as an agricultural intelligence company. To be completely honest, UAVS stock wasn't too exciting and the price action was underwhelming. That was then, and this is now as AgEagle has rebranded itself as a company that can do more than provide farming intelligence solutions.

Models based on images from unmanned aerial vehicles and satellites can help farmers to monitor the health of individual trees.

Nathan Zecks Mazvazva, a 25-year-old farmer in Zimbabwe, owns nearly 500 acres, growing green beans to green peppers. Simply put, technology—more specifically, drones—is making his livelihood more cost efficient.

Farmer-owned grain and agronomy cooperative Agtegra recently improved its ag technology capabilities with a new unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) system.

Drone activity in agriculture continues to increase, and the aerial imagery generated can provide unique insight throughout the crop production season. Over the past decade the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has continued to evolve the requirements for the operation of small unmanned aerial systems (sUAS, UAS, UAV or drones) to create a reasonable legal pathway for use in agriculture.

Drones have become a familiar aspect of our contemporary world. Over the past decade, they've graduated from expensive toys of the rich to affordable items that many of us have the opportunity to experience. They are used in photography and deliveries, and have even become the subject of their own racing events. But drones also have a vital part to play in the public sector. 

Drones are becoming critical across precision ag, integrating with other sensors and providing growers with information they didn't have access to before, often in real time. Targeted, automated and varied application possibilities abound, from identifying disease and spotting weeds to recognizing drainage issues to letting farmers know when it's time to harvest.

Unmanned aerial vehicles have found use in agriculture for decades, with unmanned helicopters spraying pesticides on rice fields in Japan back in the 1980s. Now, to have drones reach their full potential in farming, research is increasingly pushing toward beyond visual line of sight operations.

Satellite companies have begun launching thousands of low-orbiting spacecraft built to offer internet connections and streaming media to air passengers, maritime travelers, and people in remote and underserved areas. But the advanced connectivity created by these systems and supported by their target markets can also make it possible for drone operators to quickly transmit, process and return data for the still-nascent agricultural drone sector.

Oklahoma lawmakers appear to be considering this year, for the first time, how the state can play a role in a future autonomous economy. Two proposed measures would encourage testing of autonomous vehicles, one more directly than the other.

Under both Soviet and independent governments, the manufacturer now known as Antonov State Enterprise has produced 22,000 cargo, transport and passenger planes—including the An-225 Mriya, likely the world's biggest and heaviest aircraft. So, perhaps it shouldn't have been surprising when a very large UAV crop duster loomed at the entrance to the floor of the Commercial UAV Expo in Las Vegas.

The Federal Aviation Administration should revamp its drone proposal to provide flexibility to allow farmers and ranchers who cannot access the internet to continue using drones, according to the American Farm Bureau Federation.

Unmanned aerial vehicles have found use in agriculture for decades, with unmanned helicopters spraying pesticides on rice fields in Japan back in the 1980s. Now, to have drones reach their full potential in farming, research is increasingly pushing toward beyond visual line of sight operations.

A University of Kentucky professor's research is using unamned aerial vehicles to research and monitor the location and health of cows.

A Texas A&M researcher and corn breeder recently called upon the agricultural scientific community to address the lack of plans or infrastructure to catalogue and make agricultural data colleced by drones accessible for future research and synthesis.

DroneUp LLC and the State of Alaska have signed a Participating Addendum for the NASPO ValuePoint contract for unmanned aerial vehicle services.

University of Idaho researchers have been applying UAS technology to the state's fruit industry. The overall goal is to strengthen sustainability and competitiveness of Idaho fruit tree producers.

Throughout the U.S., partnerships between UAS service providers and state agencies continue to grow, including Huntsville, AL-based UAS company Avion Unmanned has agreed to work with the state of Connecticut.

The drone market will likely grow exponentially as robotics and artificial intelligence continues to improve. AeroVironment's small unmanned aircraft systems business should drive growth moving forward as small drones become increasingly applicable for military and commercial use.

RedTail LiDAR Systems of Fairmont, West Virginia, recently demonstrated the value of its precision-ag UAS technology by sharing some UAS Christmas spirit with a near neighbor, the Mt. Zion Nursery.

Modern agriculture involves fields of mind-boggling size, and spraying them efficiently is a serious operational challenge. Pyka is taking on the largely human-powered spray business with an autonomous winged craft and, crucially, regulatory approval.

Anheuser Busch InBev is turning to drones to ensure the stability of its barley acres. Through a long-term partnership with Minneapolis-based Sentera, AB InBev will utilize the expertise of Sentera and its understanding of drones, weather data, satellite imagery and mobile phone imagery.

High-tech tools meet holiday tradition in North Carolina this winter, thanks to a new research partnership that will explore how drone technology can help Christmas tree growers more efficiently measure and manage their unique crop.

US-based drone technology provider PrecisionHawk has raised $32m in Series E funding round from venture investors.

Sony Electronics Inc. has announced a new Version 2.0 update for its Smart Agriculture Solution aimed at providing agricultural customers with new AI-based imaging capabilities.

Images collected from drones flying to 1,300 feet above Genting's oil palms help the company spot fires in remote and inaccessible areas. It's part of a technology drive catapulting palm oil, the world's most-consumed vegetable oil, from dependence on manual labor to becoming one of the fastest-growing markets for commercial unmanned aircraft.

Much of agriculture already is being touched by some form of technology, whether it be sensors on tractors that precisely measure planting and fertilizing rates, or thermal infrared cameras attached to drones that fly above farm fields and detect water or insect stress in crops.