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Ag adapting to new U.S. drone rules

Changes within the drone industry are impacting farmers. 

Dennis Bowman, digital ag specialist with the University of Illinois Extension, says the National Defense Authorization Act signed late last year has shaken up the drone industry.

“That banned foreign-made drones in the United States.”  He says, “But if you’re buying a new drone, you can buy existing, already approved foreign-manufactured drones, but those companies won’t be able to bring any new drones to our market.”

He tells Brownfield, “If you’re just looking at regular RGB images, there are some good American-made alternatives.”  He says, “Where we run into problems is with multispectral, like NDVI. Currently, there aren’t any American-made small drones that have the ability to do multispectral work.”

Bowman says there are several American made sprayer drones available on the market, and companies are scrambling to increase production to meet industry demand.

Brownfield spoke with Bowman at the 2026 U of I Ag Tech Summit in Champaign.

AUDIO: Dennis Bowman – U of I Extension