2nd Annual Spray Drone Essentials

Overview

Join us for our second annual Spray Drone Essentials Workshop. Designed for a wide range of attendees, from curious farmers to licensed spray drone applicators, and agtech startups. This full-day workshop will provide both foundational knowledge and advanced insights into the world of agricultural drone spraying, including compliance and regulatory for personal versus custom applicators, general operations, and set up and safety. Workshop includes hands-on demonstrations from multiple spray drone providers.

Who Should Attend

Farmers, crop consultants, retailers, spray drone applicators, and others that are looking to leverage spray drone technology for their business.

Registration

Price: $300 including lunch, refreshments, and course materials. Space is limited to 60 attendees. https://go.iastate.edu/NYKVEN

Registration deadline is May 26, 2026.

Questions: Doug Houser, dhouser@iastate.edu

What You’ll Learn

Determine your objectives: including making applications when the soil is too wet to support ground equipment, targeted or site-specific applications, supplementing existing capacity during peak application windows.

Regulatory Considerations: FAA Part 107 Remote Pilot Certificate, FAA Part 137 Certification, IDALS Licensing, IA DOT Aircraft registration, pesticide label compliance.

Current Updates: ISU Weeds & Pathology Researchers plus Digital Ag Spray Drone Testing results.

Insurance and Risk Management: chemical and/or liability coverage, hull or physical damage coverage.

Equipment Selection: tank capacity, battery life, cost, nozzle or droplet control, dealer support service.

Training and Safe Operation: gaining flight recommendations, calibration, and coverage checks, weather monitoring, routine maintenance.

Gradual Adoption: cost benefit to adoption with scale.

Future Developments: payload capacity, automation and navigation, integration with data systems.