Brad Haire, Executive Editor

October 23, 2014

8 Slides

Even though farmers or crop advisors still can’t commercially use unmanned aircraft systems (commonly called drones), with special Federal Aviation Administration permission, UASs flew over a cotton field in south Georgia during the Sunbelt Ag Expo.

Hobbyists can fly UASs, but the FAA earlier this summer said farmers, ranchers or commercial operators can’t fly a UAS over commercial fields. But two Georgia-based UAS companies continue to move forward with refining and promoting their systems in anticipation of UAS services becoming useful to agricultural operations. Both companies received special permission from the FAA to fly over part of the Sunbelt Ag Expo farm site.

A ruling issued July 3 says, “Farmers, ranchers and all commercial operators are prohibited from using UASs until the FAA institutes regulations for the safe integration of UASs into National Airspace. The FAA was given a deadline by Congress to allow commercial drone flights by September 2015."

Until the FAA gives a final ruling, UASs for agricutlure is a service waiting for a market.

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