ST. LOUIS (DTN) -- The idea of a "tipping point" doesn't exactly sit well with Arthur Erickson. The CEO of Hylio, a leading producer of agriculture aerial sprayer drones, has long been a believer in the market. It hasn't taken increases in battery life or payload capacity, new benchmarks in acres sprayed per day or autonomous functionality to convince him autonomous aerial sprayers are the future.
"I've been at it six or seven years now, and I've seen sprayers prove highly effective for a lot of people," Erickson said.
He's a true believer and has been for a long time. Still, he's not blind to the fact that the greater agriculture industry in the United States has been slower to buy in, and that now, the industry seems poised for a big leap forward. It could be a tipping point in the consciousness of many farmers when the aerial sprayer drones become less something interesting that the neighbor's playing with and more a critical piece of the modern farmer's equipment.
"The sizes of drones we're now looking at and the reliability, the hardware and the accessibility, it's going to hit a broader and more generalized audience," Erickson said. "We're getting to that point where this is a wide-market product."
Industry experts point to leaps in terms of battery power and drone size, coupled with ever-evolving software, and they said the next wave of aerial agriculture sprayer drones could change the world sprays.
GROWTH ON TAP
Rantizo has been at the forefront of aerial drone spraying, offering retrofitted drones to spraying contractors around the country. The company's base model is currently the DJI Argas T30, capable of a takeoff weight of 170 pounds. The company was a leader in securing licensing for aerial autonomous spraying in many states and was also at the front of the effort to operate not with one machine, but a swarm -- three drones swooping over a field -- to greatly increase the acres sprayed.
Still, currently available equipment is only so capable.
Continue reading:
https://www.dtnpf.com/agriculture/web/ag/equipment/article/2022/09/19/aerial-sprayer-drones-nearing-point
"I've been at it six or seven years now, and I've seen sprayers prove highly effective for a lot of people," Erickson said.
He's a true believer and has been for a long time. Still, he's not blind to the fact that the greater agriculture industry in the United States has been slower to buy in, and that now, the industry seems poised for a big leap forward. It could be a tipping point in the consciousness of many farmers when the aerial sprayer drones become less something interesting that the neighbor's playing with and more a critical piece of the modern farmer's equipment.
"The sizes of drones we're now looking at and the reliability, the hardware and the accessibility, it's going to hit a broader and more generalized audience," Erickson said. "We're getting to that point where this is a wide-market product."
Industry experts point to leaps in terms of battery power and drone size, coupled with ever-evolving software, and they said the next wave of aerial agriculture sprayer drones could change the world sprays.
GROWTH ON TAP
Rantizo has been at the forefront of aerial drone spraying, offering retrofitted drones to spraying contractors around the country. The company's base model is currently the DJI Argas T30, capable of a takeoff weight of 170 pounds. The company was a leader in securing licensing for aerial autonomous spraying in many states and was also at the front of the effort to operate not with one machine, but a swarm -- three drones swooping over a field -- to greatly increase the acres sprayed.
Still, currently available equipment is only so capable.
Continue reading:
https://www.dtnpf.com/agriculture/web/ag/equipment/article/2022/09/19/aerial-sprayer-drones-nearing-point
