PEORIA, Ill. — The 42nd Greater Peoria Farm Show (GPFS) wrapped up its three-day run at the Peoria Civic Center on Nov. 30, bringing hundreds of local, national and international ag machinery companies and thousands of farmers together in Peoria’s downtown. Ron Bormaster of Austen, Minnesota-based Midwest Shows and manager of the GPFS, said the 2023 show featured the latest in agricultural drone technology, with manufacturers, wholesalers, retailers and applicators together under the same roof.

According to Bormaster, six agricultural drone companies were present at the Peoria show, including retailers, wholesalers, manufacturers and drone service providers. “I’ve been here for 28 of the show’s 42 years, and when you get something new (in agriculture) it’s going to be at the GPFS. We’ve got all the drone companies within 200-300 miles sitting right here in Peoria,” Bormnaster said.

In addition to scouting for common crop pests and diseases, modern drone technology is now being directed to maximizing nutrient, pesticide and herbicide applications to corn and soybeans. In addition, recent drone research being pioneered by the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture utilizes drones to scout pests and diseases in fruit, nut and row crops and apply targeted treatments.  

Modern drone usage in agriculture also includes monitoring plant water stress to help farmers target irrigation resources where most needed, while enabling faster plant screening. Drones can also be used to detect stray livestock herds, create 3D renderings of animals to calculate market value, and assess livestock forage quality. Additional research is being done to utilize drones to monitor water quality on a large scale and to provide higher resolution data for flood risk models and water resource management.

“In the last few years we’ve gone from drones being just a spot-spraying tool to now being used for mass soybean and corn fungicide applications, competing with the helicopter and airplane,” said Ben De Bouf, location manager for Terraplex, an Iowa-based retailer of agricultural drones. “They are big enough and fast enough that they can take their place on the farm now.”

The ability for drones to accurately scan crop imagery health is among the most exciting developments in the ag drone space, according to De Bouf, who manned the Terraplex booth with his wife, Terraplex sales support representative Katherine De Bouf, on opening day for the GPFS. The couple said multi-spectral drones that can produce high-resolution maps to help pinpoint soil health issues are now entering the marketplace. 

“These drones look past what the human eye can see as far as light bands, and they pick up what parts of the field are stressed and what parts aren’t,” Ben De Bouf said. 

As for current products, De Bouf said the XAG P100 Pro is the best and largest drone on the market, capable of speeds up to 31 mph and a 30-foot swath width. The vehicle can service 50 acres per hour and dispense around two gallons of applications per acre. Including eight batteries, charger and sprayer module, the 2023 XAG P100 Pro can retail for around $35,000.

The DJI Agras T-40 model is the newest drone to emerge from the spray drone pipeline carried by Terraplex. Capable of servicing around 40 acres per hour, this vehicle can retail for around $20,000.

Katherine De Bouf said the burgeoning retail agricultural drone market is becoming very competitive, making it imperative for new buyers to seek out responsible vendors who are available to answer questions and follow up on their sales. “Our top company value is customer service. All of our team members have previously experienced other drone companies whose customer service was lacking. Drones were not repaired quickly enough in-season, so applicators were losing money. There is a lot of licensing that comes with drones, and other companies wouldn’t help buyers with that service. We try to rise above the others by offering all of those services,” she said.

Gripp Custom Farming of Wyanet, Illinois was also present at the GPFS, showcasing both their aerial innovation services and retail affiliation with SweetWater Technologies. Spokesman David Taylor said that though more farmers and ranchers are seeing the advantages in purchasing drones for their operations, demand for aerial crop application companies such as Gripp is also on the rise. 

“This past year between 12 T-40s we covered 90,000 acres. We’re spraying fungicides, insecticides, micro nutrients, plant growth regulators and whatever else farmers want,” said Taylor, adding that because drone demand is so high Gripp Custom Farming is working to expand its aerial innovation network across the Midwest.

Birkey’s Farm Store, an agricultural equipment and service provider with stores in Illinois and Indiana, was also present at the GPFS. Birkey’s precision farming drone specialist Hayden Harshbarer said he was there to bring awareness to local farmers that Birkey’s — which just began retailing agricultural drones this summer — can be trusted when it comes to consulting  about drone purchases.  

“As the weather gets nicer, we’re looking to get out and demo these drones (and) show farmers how easy they are to fly with the controller, as well as how easy it is to maintain them and to stay legal with the licensing and things like that,” said Harshbarger. “What we are doing here is to let people know that not only are we selling drones, we are maintaining them. We are going to have parts and service at all 17 of our locations. Instead of calling someone from out of state and having parts shipped to you, we’re going to be right down the road to come and service you.”

Other drone retailers and wholesalers, such as Missouri-based Gras Tech, Bestway Ag and Drone Deploy Aerotech were also present at the 2023 GPFS. Together, the spectrum of retailers, wholesalers and providers represented the expanding field of agricultural drone industry competitors. The U.S. agricultural drone market size was estimated at $347.9 million in 2022 and is expected to grow at a compounded annual growth rate of 22.8 percent from 2023 to 2030, according to market research projections issued earlier this year.