This week, Ray and Kit go in person and in deep on drones in agriculture – from early hype to present-day reality.

Kit recalls his 2012 vision of swarm robotics with seed-drone resupply, while Ray draws on his experience at Small Robot Company and the ever-present question: why not just use a drone? The pair explore how the drone code, safety legislation, and hardware limitations slowed innovation in the UK—despite widespread adoption elsewhere, especially for crop spraying.

They revisit examples from Hummingbird and Ursula Agriculture to Skippy Scout and XAG spray drones, highlighting the niche applications where UAVs now shine: from hillside weed control and carbon validation to mapping deer populations and those annoyingly-shaped fields in the US Midwest.

As ever, there’s a little satire, a nod to Ukraine’s drone-driven battlefield innovation, and a healthy dose of “what’s next?” for drone tech in ag.