Innovative Agricultural Drones NZ

Good question! Because of the drones weight – over 25kg – and the fact you will be applying agrichemicals by air you need a 102 Certificate. To get this you need to get yourself an exposition which is basically a manual that states how you will run your company. We can help with this as we have partners who are experts in their field and can get you an exposition tailored to your needs.

Once this exposition is written it then needs to be approved by CAA. You will also need a pilots chemical rating, a 102 ground and practical coarse and assessment and lastly an agricultural rating. It is not as daunting as it all sounds and we can help you through every step of the way! For all of the above you can expect to pay around $10,000 and for the process to take about 12 months.

Drones, helicopters, and ground application all have their own place but they cannot be directly compared as they act in totally different fashions. Our aircraft don’t require the high water rates of conventional equipment due to well placed nozzles and the effect the downwash has on spray. We have certainly found this ourselves comfortably dropping water rates below conventional methods whilst still getting great results. Drones are a very high precision solution to your weed problem. Traditional methods often are not and so need higher water and chemical rates in order to counteract their lack of precision.

Batteries comfortably last one and sometimes two full spray loads. With a 7.5KVA generator two chargers and three batteries you will have absolutely zero downtime waiting for batteries to charge. You can fully charge each battery at least 200 times before it needs replacing. Some manufacturers claim they can do many more but in reality 200 is a good safe number. Any more and you are risking your asset in the air and the people or property around the aircraft.

The answer to this question can vary hugely dependant on what you want to achieve with your aircraft. If you are a farmer who just wants to do the basics on their own farm then the price will be comparatively less than a contractor who wants to earn a living out of operating their aircraft and offer every service it is capable of. We advise you get in touch and briefly explain the tasks you want to achieve and we can send you a quote with what we think is required for you.

Good question – the answer.  It varies. Because we have been using the machines daily for a few years now we can say one thing – they are getting better all the time. For flat land spraying at 30 litres per hectare we cover around 10 hectares per hour. For orchard spraying at 100 litres per hectare we can cover around 5 hectares per hour. As for fertiliser – once setup on high rates 200+kg/ha we can get through well over one tonne per hour – a load every two minutes. For jobs more spread out and lower rates we do about 500kg or a little more per  hour. These machine really are built for efficiency and are impressive to watch.