17 The Business of Prairie Agriculture Better Farming | July/August 2024 advanced licence, which can be significantly more difficult to obtain. The farmer will be assessed in person, and they will be assigned a mission to fly with their drone. Wolf explains that drone operators also need to be aware of airspace regulations. “Most airspace below 400 feet is uncontrolled, which means you don’t have to talk to a tower. If you go higher than 400 feet or close to airports, it’s controlled airspace,” says Wolf. “I’m within three kilometres of an airport and have a nearby hospital with a landing pad, so I need a special flight operations certificate from Transport Canada.” These certificates require information about your experience, drone details, and when and where you want to spray. This is necessary to protect aircraft and bystanders. While many farmers are eager to try drone spraying, barriers remain due to a need for more research and slow action by pesticide companies to validate their products for drone use. “There are concerns. We don’t know how they drift, how well they work, or if bystander and operator exposure is an issue, and we don’t know what it means for maximum residual in crops with lower water volumes being used in drones,” says Wolf. Wolf explains that registrants need to generate this information for each of their products for the pesticides to become approved for use with drones. “They have to petition to register their products for drone use. They have to say what data is needed and then the registrant has to generate that data, and it’s expensive and takes time,” says Wolf. “They are likely asking, ‘What’s in it for us? Do we sell more product, or do we get more headaches and liability with drift or performance if products are registered for drones?’ They are pretty serious about whether they should do this or not.” While there already are farmers illegally spraying with drones, Wolf has concerns about public perception and trade implications if too many people stretch the rules. Weber says that Prairie producers can learn to use their drones as a tool rather than a toy at LandView Drones’ Ag Drone School. The school teaches farmers how to legally fly their drones and utilize them more effectively and safely. While producers wait for regulations to catch up to their enthusiasm for spraying, using them for scouting, mapping, and seeding can make farming easier by increasing accessibility and flexibility for managing crops and livestock. BF 23_001099_Jars_Bulk6Grid_HalfHoriz_US Mod: January 5, 2024 10:49 AM Print: 05/03/24 page 1 v2.5 UTILITY JUGS PLASTIC PAILS F-STYLE JUGS MILK JUGS WIDE-MOUTH JARS BULK PACKS IN STOCK, READY TO SHIP π ORDER BY 6 PM FOR SAME DAY SHIPPING 1-800-295-5510 uline.ca EMILY CROFT Emily lives on a beef farm, raising Red Angus and Simmental cattle. She holds a Master of Science in Animal Biosciences, with a focus on ruminant nutrition. DRONES: A NEW PERSPECTIVE
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