ADI’s goal is to help American ag-drones towards the future by advancing the policies needed to get us there efficiently.

As advanced as the current iteration of ag-drones are, fundamentally they are only scratching the surface of what they can do for farmers. ADI’s core objective is to serve as the industry’s voice in Washington, D.C., to help drive the industry towards a future in which agricultural drones are an efficient and integral part of American agriculture.

ADI seeks to work with all responsible manufacturers, distributors, and operators will help advance the industry by providing guidance, advocacy and education. The goal is to progress from where our industry is right now (Generation 1) to where it can be in the future (Generation 3) in which applied materials costs are cut by over 75% for pesticides and herbicides, and nutrients are applied in a far more optimized manner.

Generation 1

ADI describes the current state of ag-drones as the first generation. While ag-drones have been around for the better part of a decade, the first full-sized, fully-capable drones emerged and became adopted by large numbers of farmers only in the last few years.

Gen-1 Technology:

  • Spraying and spreading of materials at market-competitive rates

  • Functional but imperfect obstacle avoidance

  • Autonom-ish flight (needs intervention not just monitoring)

Gen-1 Use-Practices:

  • Spraying and Spreading entire fields (multispectral crop analysis exception not the rule)

  • Drone applications competitive where terrestrial applications are inefficient.

  • Battery life, other CRM issues, and software bugs are still significant challenges for all companies

We compare Gen-1 agricultural drones to the first tractors that were widely used in the 1930’s and 40’s (e.g. the Ford 8N): impressive for the time but looked back on as undersized, simple, and a novelty to still see running.

Generation 2

Gen-2 agricultural drones are those that integrate current technologies such as multispectral analysis and gradient application with reduced friction and battery, obstacle avoidance, and other CRM issues are resolved to the point that drones can compete well against terrestrial applications across a range of settings.

Gen-2 Technology:

  • Spraying and Spreading reliably integrates multispectral data to spread nutrients (lime and fertilizer) acording to the needs of each sq/ft based on soil health, instead of setting a fixed rate across 100 acres.

  • Fully autonomous flight (still monitored) but obstacle avoidance and terrain management is ‘solved’ except for extreme edge cases to compete with terrestrial application methods.

  • Battery-life and software issues are resolved sufficiently to operate reliably in a range of edge-cases.

Gen-2 Use-Practices:

  • Multispectral crop analysis becomes the norm for farmers and applicators

  • Drone application considered cost-competitive across industry (through a combination of cheaper services and use of cost-saving features such as multispectral data on a regular basis)

  • Ag-drones have separate ‘part’ under FAA regulations to address industry specific safety concerns while facilitating operations for responsible applicators.

These drones are analogous to the tractors of the 1970’s (Case 570): they’re reliable, most people still have one poking around the farm, but they aren’t integrated into ‘modern’ farming practices.

Generation 3

Third-generation agricultural drones represent the full potential of current technologies, fully integrated onto platforms. They aren’t done evolving, but are likely to only get larger and better at what they do, with few large problems left to ‘solve’.

Gen-3 Technology:

  • Spraying and Spreading using multispectral and AI analysis of crops to monitor disease outbreaks. Drones assess field and spray pesticides only on the plants that are experiencing diseases. Instead of treating 100 acres of crops for a disease-agent, only the outbreak and a quarantine buffer are treated.

  • Reliability and technology concerns are ‘solved’ to a degree similar to modern smart phones

  • Drone pilots become closer to managers of airspace and resources than pilots of individual drones.

Gen-3 Use-Practices:

  • Drone applications using data-driven application of pesticide and fertilizer applications considered the norm

  • Prophylactically spraying entire fields becomes rare and is considered abnormal and wasteful

  • Full integration into the American agricultural process

ADI compares Gen-3 ag-drones to modern tractors: enclosed cabs, AC, gps integrated, and more attachments and modifications than you can imagine.