Page 26 2025 Logan County Spring Outlook LINCOLN DAILY NEWS March 2025 Do agricultural drones have a future in the United States? Some may say they are already in use so the future is now, but that is only partially true. According to research done for this article, the United States is years behind other countries in the use of drones for agricultural field scouting, land mapping, and fertilizer, herbicide and pesticide applications. Japan has been using drone technology since the turn of the 21st century with satisfying results. While drones have been offered in America, their use has been mostly recreational with small machines with still shot cameras being a popular plaything falling into the category of remote-control toy trucks or radio operated aircraft flown over open fields for entertainment purposes only. One of the first drones we noted locally in the agricultural industry was owned and operated Do agricultural drones have a future in the United States? by Central Illinois Ag in Atlanta. Even then the use was more as a marketing tool than an actual research or scouting tool. According to pilot Abby Coers the first drone they had was very limited, but today the technology has improved, making drone flying safer and more reliable regardless of how it is being utilized. Coers said, “We use the drone just for pretty photos, no decision making. We got our first drone about 10 years ago when they were just becoming popular. The camera was a GoPro mounted on to it and the battery lasted about 8 minutes. We had to use our own timer to know when the battery was about to die to bring the drone back. Now the technology has changed so much where if we are flying and the battery is getting low the drone will ‘return home’ Continued --
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