The use of drones for agricultural purposes is taking off in the U.S., with increasing numbers of farmers seeing improved efficiency, more targeted spraying and lower costs as advantages over traditional crop-spraying aircraft.

Utilizing drones to spread water, pesticides and other chemicals on crops grew more appealing last year when the U.S. FAA started granting permission to use a single operator to oversee a swarm of three drones weighing over 55 lbs. Previously, each of the three heavy spray drones had to have two pilots, including one dedicated to line-of-sight monitoring.

Agricultural UAV manufacturer Hylio in March 2024 became the first company to gain FAA approval for users of its spray drones to have a single operator overseeing three autonomous drones swarming over farmland. That cuts required staff for a three-drone swarm carrying heavier loads from six to one. Other companies have since gained the same permission, widening U.S. demand for spray drones.

Hylio CEO Arthur Ericskon told Commercial UAV News the company “saw a big uptake in market adoption” after getting the FAA approval, noting that the “vast majority” of agricultural drones now weigh more than 55 lbs. He conceded many farmers were already swarming three heavy drones with fewer than six operators prior to the FAA easing rules, but the practice was not technically approved, making some potential customers hesitant.

“I would say [FAA approval] has given people who were on the fence about the legality the free range to jump in,” he explained. “It opened the market and made people who were more conservative-minded when it comes to doing things by the books finally ready … Now people aren't afraid of getting slapped with a fine.”

Erickson added that over 50% of Hylio’s customers are deploying swarms, so the FAA permission enabled operators to buy multiple drones with confidence the UAVs can be used to their potential. The Texas company’s largest spray drone is the AG-272, an autonomous, eight-rotor UAV weighing 176.8 lbs. (including two batteries). It has a tank with 18 gallons of capacity, and can be operated for 8 minutes with a full payload.

Erdal Ozkan, a professor at Ohio State University who specializes in pesticide application technology, noted in a 2024 paper that drones have been used for around a decade to spray crops in Asia, especially in China, Japan and South Korea—though in the early years these drones usually took the form of single-rotor, remote-controlled helicopters. 

He said 120,000 drones were used to spray pesticides on over 175.5 million acres of farmland across China in 2021. “In contrast, drone spraying is in its infancy in the United States, but interest in this technology from pesticide applicators is steadily increasing,” Ozkan wrote. 

He said spray drones appeal to farming for multiple reasons. “The topography or soil conditions [may] not allow the use of traditional ground sprayers or conventional agricultural aircraft,” he explained, adding that UAVs are useful “when airplanes and helicopters are not available or are too expensive to use.”

Ozkan noted that “drones more efficiently spray small, irregular-shaped fields” and “significantly reduce the risk of applicators being contaminated by the pesticides, especially those using backpack sprayers.”

DJI, the Chinese firm that is the world’s largest commercial drone manufacturer, pointed to a “booming global agricultural drone industry” in its 2024 "insight report" on farming UAVs. The “substantial savings” brought by spray drones include reductions in the amount of water and pesticides that need to be used, since spraying can be done lower to the ground in a much more targeted way, the report stated.

DJI said agricultural UAV regulations are becoming less restrictive around the world, citing Australia, Brazil, and the U.S. as examples, creating more demand for spray drones.

Hylio is this month opening a new, much larger factory spanning 40,000 square feet—four times the size of its existing production facility—in Richmond, Texas. The company, which manufactures 1,000 drones annually, plans to quickly ramp up production to at least 3,000 drones per year. Hylio will then build up to producing 5,000 drones per year by 2027, according to Ericskon.  

Two new models will be among the UAVs produced in the new factory. One is a 10 lbs. “scout drone” called the Photon, which is meant to complement swarming spray drones by taking high-resolution photos and sensor readings to provide a precise picture of crop conditions, identifying problem areas in real time. The smaller drone is expected to enter the market in the 2025 fourth quarter. 

Hylio’s biggest project is developing and flight testing the HYL-150 ARES, its newest spray drone model set to enter service in the first quarter of 2026. The drone weighs 141 lbs. (including two batteries) and has a 13-gallon tank capacity. Like the AG-272, it can fly for 8 minutes with a full payload.

Erickson said operators will not notice significant differences between the ARES and current Hylio models, but there will be a major difference in the manufacturing process. He explained the internal electronics have been redesigned, making systems more consolidated, “which makes our assembly process with these drones much quicker, so we can meet the demand, which is huge. It's been exploding.”

The new factory will have three main assembly lines supported by a variety of automated manufacturing systems, including 3D-printers and robotic CNC mills and lathes. 

“We've always been behind demand in terms of what we supply as a company,” Erickson said. “For us to go from the way we traditionally have built drones to this really sleek internal design enabling a Henry Ford-style automated assembly line is a big change, even if it's not something that the end customer is necessarily going to feel day to day.”

Referring to the planned production ramp up, he added: “This is about us being able to build these drones better, faster and get more out to the market because the demand is insane.”