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Ag drone boom brings increased oversight and potentially costly fines

The CEO of drone manufacturer Hylio warns an evolving regulatory landscape could prove costly for ag applicators.

Arthur Erickson tells Brownfield an agricultural drone company in the Pacific Northwest is facing a nearly $290,000 fine from the Federal Aviation Administration for alleged violations including fertilizer applications by drone without the required agricultural aircraft operator certificate.

“The FAA has been very patient, but the industry is now more formalized and it should be because these are big, high-energy drones and you want them to be safely monitored and operated. Just so everyone has peace of mind that these things aren’t going to just go cowboy crazy.”

He says fines can add up.

“Like if you’re operating with an unregistered drone, meaning a drone that doesn’t have a registered FAA tail number, it might be like every time you go do a job with it that could be like a roughly $10,000 fine or what have you.”

Erickson says there’s been a dramatic increase in agricultural spray drone usage in the last decade, climbing from around 300 in 2017 to at least 15,000 today.