Pesticide-Hauling Drone Approved

The Federal Aviation Administration granted permission for use of the Yamaha Motor Co.’s RMax unmanned helicopter in agriculture operations. The exemption represents the country’s first for a drone capable of hauling and spraying significant amounts of pesticides.

The RMax Type II G weighs 200 pounds when it’s loaded, which is another first. The threshold for small UAS aircraft in the United States has been 55 pounds, according to a statement from Thompson Coburn LLP.

The drone is already in use in Japan, where rice farmers use it to sow seeds directly into paddy fields rather than growing seedlings and transferring them.

This direct sowing is possible because of a new technique in which seed rice is coated with calcium sulphate containing iron powder. Without the coating, the seeds float. With the coating, the seeds sink into the soil of the paddy field. The iron powder coating is thin enough that seeds get oxygen and water and breaks through the coating to sprout.

An article in The Japan Times said using the drone reduces the time it takes to plant rice from about 90 minutes per roughly 2 1/2 acres to 15 minutes.

While the potential for savings in production is great, yields may be slightly diminished, the article said. It reported yields lowered by 10% because seeds planted by air were less stable and more likely to succumb to a strong wind. S