MINOT, ND ( KXNET ) — Technology is constantly updating, and making its way into all types of industries, including agriculture. Farmers Choice Seed employees, for example, are using drones to help them get their work done efficiently.

The drones are autonomous, which means the pilots input the routes and then the drones fly those routes. However, they are still landed manually.

“Today,” explained Farmers Choice Drone Lade James Jelormino, “we are spraying for mosquitoes utilizing the DGI T-40. It is an agricultural typically used fungicide application, but you can do various jobs, like pasture spraying and herbicide application.”

The drones, which weigh over 80 pounds, can empty more than 10.5 gallons of liquid. When spraying fields, they can cover a little over five acres in seven minutes.

The field sprayed during KX’s visit will deter the mosquitoes for about five to six weeks.

“The drones are a good use case for spraying mosquitoes,” Gelormino continued. “If you notice on this specific lot, there is a lot of open area — but you have trees. Mosquitoes specifically like to nest in trees. They will nest in the grass but they will nest in the trees.”

The Farmer’s Choice pilots say the specific chemicals they use are low impact to humans, but will kill the bugs, mosquitoes, and their nests on impact. In addition, they say the sprays will not hurt the surrounding crops — but you can’t just fly these drones overnight. You have to get a Federal Aviation Administration Part 107 license to do so.

“Even if you are not into video games or anything like controllers,” stated Farmers Choice Pilot Kendra Dahle. “I think it is very easy to pick up how to fly a drone if you are good at working with your hands and kind of tech-savvy.”

Also, the drones are versatile, getting to many spots regular equipment can’t get into.

“These guys get fields that are difficult to get,” Gelormino continued. “A tractor in the field gets wet as well. You don’t want to get the tractors stuck. Say you can’t hire a plane, or the field is too tight to get a plane on it — that’s where the drones come in.”

Farmers Choice Seed has now been using drones for two years but, they also fix drones as well.

Dahle says that the main goal of Farmers Choice is to provide farmers with quality seeds and services. They offer seed sales, crop protection, fertilizers, soil sampling, custom seed treatment plans, agronomy services, custom drone spray applications, and more.

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