Drone Ban - Part Two
Tim Hammerich
News Reporter
Drone spraying has really caught on in recent years. It allows a farmer to spot spray at a lower cost than traditional equipment and enter the fields when conditions don’t support terrestrial sprayers. But Bryan Sanders of the American Spray Drone Coalition says a potential ban on Chinese drones could threaten this emerging segment of the agriculture industry.
Sanders… “The two main players in this space are both Chinese companies. They're DJI and XAG. And those two have the lion's share of the market. I don't know exactly what that number is. It's not really publicly available, but I guess probably 70% or better of the market share belongs to both of those entities.”
Sanders says the ban that’s being discussed would be catastrophic for the US spray drone industry.
Sanders… “As it's looking right now, the government would prevent those farmers and those folks that have invested a lot of money in this technology and are doing really great things with it. We've sprayed over 4 million acres in this country alone, just in 2023 across 41 states. And these are a lot of really great jobs in rural parts of this country. To take all of that away effectively is what would happen with this ban.”
Sanders said the equivalent technology functions, features, capacity and price point just doesn’t exist by American made options.
