Salaries for Ag Drone Pilots

[Fred Paris]

So in looking at the various pay models for agriculture drone pilots, in OHIO, - these guys take a spray trailer to various fields and mix and spray all day using T30s. The starting pay is about $45k a year with a kicker of $5000 when you get your 107, 55 lb plus, and the state pesticide license. I'm not sure if this model would work here in Massachusetts. Might be a good place to start.

Each trailer has two people one mapping and flying and the other changing batteries, refilling the drone, and acting as the required spotter when the drone is flying.

So the challenge is to find the nerdy kind of employees that love the business, like to get up very early every day, really enjoy mapping and spray calculations, and want to fly the big boys.

I'm open to perspectives?

 

[GFields]

Like any business, supply and demand is key to success. If there is a need in your area for this type of work, you may do well. Keep in mind there is competition out there. Do your homework. Research what is already available.

 

[jaja6009]

When doing your business plan don't forget to factor in the size of the fields being sprayed. At some point the size of the field will be better suited economically to be sprayed by manned aviation. There is a sweet spot on field size for this.

Other items that must be addressed is a full understanding of the weather in regards to application. Inversions being present are a big no go for pesticide application. You will waste product, have it go to unintended areas and possibly contaminate people/things.

 

[Fred Paris]

Yea, inversions can be an issue - I remember that from pesticide school.
In some instances the weather can ruin your plans.

We might not want to spray some products if we know its going to rain in the next two days.
So thats 2 days to work in the shop. Some mornings look great, but by 8:30 the wind is up and you go home till later.

In the mornings, you hold off mixing until you are sure you can spray. Some of this stuff doesn't stay active very long after its mixed.

Between loading, mixing, drive time, rain, wind, I expect if we can get 30% productive over a week thats good.

Only some of the variables that go into pricing projects.

 

[photoshop67]

Be careful if you spray RoundUp. 1st hand experience, you risk getting Non Hodgking Lymphoma.

 

[Fred Paris]

Be careful if you spray RoundUp. 1st hand experience, you risk getting Non Hodgking Lymphoma.

Yea photoshop67, RoundUp along with other herbicides are really bad stuff. If you get some of this stuff on clothing, the suggestion is to wash the clothing 3 times. If you get it on leather shoes--throw the shoes away. PPE in 90degree weather is not fun, but somebody has to do it.

 

[AMann]

I would also think one has to have a good understanding of what the types of crops are grown in an area and what their seasonal needs are for pesticides and other sprays that are required for them…if not they would need an agricultural consultant of some sort to help with this.

 

[bcwoodcarver]

Yea photoshop67, RoundUp along with other herbicides are really bad stuff. If you get some of this stuff on clothing, the suggestion is to wash the clothing 3 times. If you get it on leather shoes--throw the shoes away. PPE in 90degree weather is not fun, but somebody has to do it.

If no one would do it , the spreading of these poisons might be slowed.

 

[seapro220]

I've also seen several people on Youtube that do this type of thing and am interested in the technology, just not sure about the investment needed currently as this would be a part-time business and unsure of the ROI. Another thing I don't think I've seen, being early in discovery of this intended usage, are several other things: who supplies the chemicals and regulated the amt of coverage. Again, since I'm new and don't know that 'ag side' of it yet - is this supplied by the farmer, or sprayer agent and when there's a disagreement about the amt 2/acre or 4/acre - who makes the final decision? Also - how much are the chemicals and how many tanks - automatically mixed, or manually mixed each time and how to figure this into all the 'mix' on a per acre charge. I presume there is a 'service charge' to show up, then per acre charge.

 

[Thelastosirus]

I'm stuck on the $45K for a pilot without a required part 107, and only $50K with your 107, and you still need additional licenses to distribute poison? This can't be correct operating a $50K+ setup, and applying poison to crops...?

 

[Fred Paris]

I'm stuck on the $45K for a pilot without a required part 107, and only $50K with your 107, and you still need additional licenses to distribute poison? This can't be correct operating a $50K+ setup, and applying poison to crops...?

Not all positions require part 107. New hires can be used as observers and can actually get some hands-on time under a licensed person. I expect that as they get their 107 they get a raise and then if they get the Pesticide license they get another raise.

I think there will be a lot of good paying jobs that do not require a college degree.

For training on 107, employees get enrolled in one of the good 'on-line' courses and are required to spend debriefing time with a live instructor every 3 days. Most are ready to take the test in just over a month.

I think a good all-around 'agriculture drone pilot' should be capable of mapping farms, using multispectral drone images, setting up spray maps. They should be capable of using multispectral output to set up autonomous spot spray missions.

This is a $100,000 non-college position

 

[sawman]

Using a drone for survey work requires a person with survey knowledge and license. Using a drone for application of agricultural products requires a person with agricultural knowledge and license.
You can't do these jobs just knowing how to fly a drone. As has been said before, the drone is just a tool.
I have a little experience in the agricultural field and personally know of a couple of people who are currently working with DJI Agras drones. Yes, there's a small niche market for the service...."small" being the key word. But these guys are part of a bigger business operation, so their income is not dependent solely on the drone ops. Only one of them has mentioned $14 per acre as their fee. It'd take a long time to recoup your investment and make a decent income, considering weather, crop needs, maintenance, and everything else that factors into the final result.

 

[Fred Paris]

Yes, to do survey work that would be recognized as a legal document requires a survey license. That is not the kind of mapping that farmers need. When surveying and mapping for a spray mission i'm looking for how close can i get to the tree line, not the exact property line.

Charging for drone operations by the acre doesn't work well for us. You need to compute your time and charge by the hour. The pilots in the midwest where the farm go for miles can charge by the hour.

Here in my market the farms are smaller. Consider the time, for example, consider spraying 2 gallons an acre for a 200 acre farm. Thats 400 gallons. The T50 holds 10.5 gallons so that baby is coming back to be refilled 38 times.

What most farmers do around here is hire helicopters for granular applications. The copter is 1,200 and hour not including the product being applied. A typical 25 acre farm would be about $4200. A licensed drone operator with a pesticide license is worth $300 an hour.

 

[Fred Paris]

Yes, I recognize that you need proper licenses, along with part 137 for aerial work and 44807 for the heavyweight Ag drones, so we know that.

What we also know is that even the best drone pilots may not be good at agriculture work. In most cases you are not flying the drone the drone is following a flight route and mission as programed.

For example I can define say... 14 spots that need spot spraying on a 50 acre field.

So we might spend a half hour programming the mission for spot spraying based on the pixel color representing the bug or weed. Then, we just start the mission and the UAV figures out the best way to do it.