The US Dept of Commerce is considering new rules that could potentially restrict the US activities of drones made by “foreign adversaries” such as China and Russia.
Given the rapid growth of drones for spraying crops—a market dominated by Chinese supplier DJI—our coverage of lawmakers’ attempts to restrict DJI’s US activities featured heavily in our ‘most read’ list this year.
A defense spending bill just passed in the US Congress requires an unspecified national agency to conduct a risk assessment on DJI spray drones, prompting alarm bells among distributors.
If lawmakers are genuinely concerned about security, says DJI, they should develop technology-based data security standards that all drone operators and manufacturers must follow, regardless of their country of origin.
“Our goal is to become the epicenter for unmanned aerial systems in the agricultural space,” says Kelly Hills CEO Lukas Koch.
Ag spray drone distributors have formed a coalition to urge lawmakers to reconsider plans to restrict the US activities of Chinese drone maker DJI Technologies and say alternative approaches could address potential security concerns.
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The House version of the 2025 defense spending bill includes provisions targeting Chinese firm DJI, the market leader in ag spray drones in the US. The Senate version does not. So what happens next?
“If we had American-made drones using American-made parts with American-made software that were as affordable and as good as DJI, we wouldn’t have an issue,” says Russell Hedrick. “But right now, they don’t exist.”
Proposed legislation targeting Chinese drone maker DJI Technologies could have a devastating effect on US agriculture, claim firms supplying the drones to farmers.
After seven years at Deere, the agtech vet joins Rootwave as a newly appointed board member.
As regulatory pressure to reduce herbicide use increases, Sentera adds precision weed management to its tech stack.
The two companies will combine swarming with heavy-payload drones for more precise, effective spraying on specialty crops.
New funding will enable SeeTree to work with new crop types and expand into new territories around the world.
While spray drone uptake in agriculture has been hampered by high costs and low capacity, speed and payloads are increasing continuously, says Rantizo.
Guardian Agriculture has raised $20m in a series A round to expand its autonomous drone technology to farms across the US and ramp-up manufacturing of its SC1 aircraft.
Research finds that 80% of farmers cite input cost as the biggest risk to profitability; more are considering tools like precision ag and biologicals.
With its regulatory process now complete, California’s LahakX readies its drone swarming and spot spraying tech for fields in California.
Bowery announced its acquisition of robotics startup Traptic last week. Here, AFN analyzes the deal and what it means for the wider indoor ag space.
Drones could be revolutionary for Indian agriculture – but their cost means they remain out of reach for most of the country’s farmers.
