The world’s top consumer drone maker, China’s SZ DJI Technology Co., has developed a new eight-rotor drone that has been engineered to apply up to 10 acres of cropland in an hour, according to a report posted in the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) last week titled “Chinese Drone Maker Plows Into Agriculture.” Farming has been touted as the largest potential market for drone technology. They have been characterized as good tools for collecting aerial data on crops, but it turns out getting farmers actionable data about their crops is more complex than the kinds of tasks other industries use drones for, including cinematography and real estate, the WSJ article said. The article does mention one of the major hurdles for drones on U.S. farms—that farmers in the U.S. tend to have larger fields, so when it comes to spraying pesticides, the 2.6-gallon spray tank for the DJI Agras MG-1 drone is no match for the manned aircraft the ag aviation industry already uses to spray crops. 

In a news release announcing the “smart, crop-spraying agricultural drone,” DJI stated that users can select automatic, semi-automatic or manual operation modes, depending on terrain, with uniform spraying carried out via the drone’s nozzles. The drone has four replaceable, ceramic nozzles, each powered by a motor. Upon refilling or recharging, DJI states that the Agras MG-1 will return to its last memory point to pick up spraying where it left off. 

The Agras MG-1 will initially be available in China and Korea and later in other markets—reportedly for about what it would cost for a modest compact car. The International Business Times reported that the battery-powered Agras MG-1 is priced at about $15,000 (US) and can fly for about 12 minutes.