Drones hit roadblock on path to become farming tool
DECATUR, Ill. — They came from across the country to learn more about the ways farmers can use drones to manage their sprawling fields.
They watched flight demonstrations. Listened to presentations by experts. And learned what it costs to operate a well-equipped machine.
But what they didn't hear — at least not officially — was anyone urging them to actually buy a drone to use for farming.
That's because the Federal Aviation Administration, just days before the gathering, delivered a blow to this young but promising farm tool.
In a fresh interpretation of rules governing model aircraft, the agency says you can fly a drone for fun, but can't use one to make money or business decisions.
"It's made a lot of us rethink how to approach it," said Bill Wiebold, a soybean specialist and new drone enthusiast at the University of Missouri Extension.
Wiebold, who spoke at the Precision Aerial Ag Show earlier this month, said he's been forced to adjust the language he uses when talking to farmers, who are increasingly interested in the technology. With the FAA's current stance, he's fearful of making suggestions that could get someone in trouble with regulators.
"There's so much promise. But it's just potential, now," he said.
When farmers look at drones, or unmanned aircraft systems, they increasingly see tools capable of giving them a better handle on the health of their crops and their land. They can help determine the size of plants, weed infestations, insect problems and drainage issues. But most importantly, they can do these things quicker and more efficiently than is possible on foot, said Stu Ellis, an organizer of the show, which drew some 1,400 attendees from 33 states and six countries.
"You could spend four to five hours walking an 80-acre soybean field," Ellis said, noting the same ground could be covered in half an hour or less by drone.
But even further, he sees a day when farmers use a small drone for scouting, and a larger model for delivering herbicides or pesticides to troubled areas.
The potential is certainly drawing the attention of farmers such as Matt Ganz, of Compton, Ill.
Ganz, who traveled to Decatur on behalf of his family's farming operation, was intrigued by what he saw, though he was hoping for stronger diagnostic tools.
"From the air, it doesn't tell you what's wrong," Ganz said. "You still have to get out and look."
And with price tags in the $5,000 to $10,000 range for a well-equipped drone, he said it's a bit pricey for a smaller operations such as theirs, with a couple thousand acres.
And then there's all the uncertainty over what the FAA is going to do.
"I think we're going to wait right now and see what happens," he said.
Until recently, the agency essentially ignored the drone realm, simply offering a few basic rules for model aircraft hobbyists to follow. But as drones have grown more sophisticated — and with companies such as Amazon pushing to use them for deliveries to customers — the agency has been forced to reconsider its position.
One of its most closely watched cases started in early 2012, when the FAA went after Raphael Pirker, who used a drone in 2011 to shoot aerial footage for a University of Virginia Medical Center promotion. The agency slapped Pirker with a $10,000 fine for unsafe use of an aircraft.
In March, a federal administrative judge ruled against the agency, saying it had no basis for the fine and that it shouldn't have applied aircraft rules to what is essentially a model aircraft.
The agency is appealing the decision, even as it works to come up with a new set of regulations for unmanned flights, as directed by Congress.
In the meantime, the FAA is working to assert control over model aircraft — or at least those not being used by hobbyists. In its June notice, the agency made it clear that any commercial use of drones must have FAA approval. The agency specifically mentioned farming — along with photography and delivery services — as the types of businesses subject to regulation.
There is hope in agriculture and drone circles that the agency will soon offer some sort of exemption for commercial farming, perhaps as soon as this winter.
But some worry over the future of an industry projected by the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International to have an $82 billion economic impact from 2015-2025.
Among them is Brendan Schulman, the New York attorney representing Pirker in his fight against the FAA.
Schulman expects any relief from the FAA to come at a significant cost to commercial users and makers of unmanned aircraft systems. Farmers, for example, could be required to get a pilot's license. And manufacturers may be forced to gain costly certificates of air worthiness, similar to those required of passenger planes.
"I think we are going to see onerous rules and regulations," Schulman said. "I think it will destroy a large segment of this industry."
It's a situation that certainly has the attention of the companies that have sprung up in recent years and months.
Steve Petrotto is a product designer for Champaign-based Horizon Precision Systems, an eight-month-old subsidiary of Horizon Hobby, which has been around for nearly three decades, selling radio controlled cars, boats and planes around the world. Horizon Precision has developed a quad helicopter-style drone that can be programmed to fly itself around a farm, while collecting images.
That the fledgling unit is backed by a larger firm should be helpful during times of uncertainty, he said.
"If we need to sit back for a year or two for things to get worked out, we can do that," Petrotto said.
For now, companies like Gibson City, Ill.-based Crop Copter are left to figure out ways to fit into a landscape where the targeted customers can't really use what's being sold. At least not without the fear of running afoul of the FAA.
The two-year-old firm had its own tent at the expo, where it had a dozen or so drones on display, in prices ranging from $5,000 to $20,000.
Sales manager Tom King sees tremendous growth opportunities in the field, along with serious questions about whether there's any real future at all.
"What's going to hinder it is what the FAA decides to do. That could be the roadblock," King said. "At this point, we've formed a business plan to see what the FAA is going to do. From there, we'll make our decisions."
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