Agricultural UAVs - A Case Study on Their Implementation in the US Market

The use of UAVs in agriculture represents a new market ready for explosive domestic growth, and could even be a game changer. Like the PC industry, many military funded technologies have been combined in products that are now just sold as a niche novelty for hobbyists. The agricultural UAV industry is near the point where the market can shift from this hobbyist, smallscale into an agricultural necessity, much like the PC industry shifted when IBM and its PC came onto the scene. Many small companies (and divisions of larger ones) are working on the use of drones in agriculture, but face unique regulatory challenges. This paper explores this budding agricultural UAV market, compares existing agricultural solutions, examines the technologies behind this new market, the regulations constraining this technology, and includes an evaluation of the field’s economic and technological likely future