In recent years, the use of drones for agricultural spraying has grown steadily. Increasingly, farmers are turning to uncrewed vehicles because they offer dramatic improvements in cost, efficiency, and safety over traditional methods like using backpacks and ground sprayers. Although experts believe that drones will never completely replace conventional techniques for spraying on farms, drones offer immense potential for improving agricultural operations—and they’re just getting started.

For our latest podcast, Commercial UAV News spoke with Bryan Sanders, President of Homeland Surveillance and Electronics (HSE). A full-service provider of industrial unmanned aircraft, HSE has extensive experience helping agricultural operations adopt new technologies. Drawing on this background, Sanders discusses the current state of the spray drone sector, barriers to adoption, and how the technology can advance farming operations in the future.