A sprayer drone with a 10-gallon tank and multiple nozzles under each rotor. Photo by Erdal Ozkan, The Ohio State University.

A bill aiming to make it easier for farmers to use drones to apply pesticides was signed into law by Gov. Newsom over the weekend.

On Saturday, Newsom signed AB 1016, which expedites training and licensing programs so more farmers could use aerial drones for pesticide applications.

It is currently against the law to operate an unmanned aerial drone for pesticide application unless the operator holds an unmanned pest control aircraft pilot’s certificate issued by the director of the California Department of Pesticide Regulation.

The bill will allow for quicker licensing.

California Farm Bureau President Jamie Johansson praised the signing of the bill and the Bureau for leading efforts to ensure farmers have access to precision technology.

Spraying pesticides with unmanned drones isn’t a new thing.

According a 2023 study from Ohio State University, the Yamaha RMax drone was first used in Japan in 1997, consisting of a single rotor with a diameter of about 10 feet and four gallons of spray tank capacity.

Today’s multi-rotor drones can carry 10-15 gallon tanks. The turbulence created in the top of the tree canopies helps distribute the droplets to lower parts of the canopy, according to the report. 

The study reports that adoption of spray drones by individual farmers is likely to increase with eased Federal Aviation Administration regulations and restrictions, improved design and manufacturing, larger drones with larger spray tanks and improved technologies.

“With aerial spray technology within reach of all farmers for the first time, this will help them save on crop protection costs by allowing drones to target affected areas instead of entire fields,” Johansson said. “Drone use can also replace backpack spray and ground-based delivery systems with remote technologies, which protects our agricultural employees from close contact with pesticide applications.”