Central Michigan - 9/1/2024 06:33

Good morning,

I’ve been lurking here for a couple months now and decided to join and this is my first post here. This is a great site and I’ve learned quite a bit, thank you all!

Since seeing my first spray drone last July, I’ve been doing a ton of research on them and looking into starting a business myself. To my knowledge there are only two legal businesses in my immediate area that I have found, so it seems it’s still fairly new here. I’ve talked to a couple farmers about this, I’ve talked to a guy who’s a custom applicator on the east side of the state, and I’ve talked to a couple Nutrien shops around and I’m confident there’s plenty of work out there but how much?

My question for you all,

1: How many acres are you spraying a year, and how many acres of each application are you spraying?

2: How many acres of cover crop are you applying?

3: Is there a demand for stand count and or multispectral? Something to keep money rolling in on the days when it’s too windy to apply?

4: There’s plenty of fruit farms and vegetable farms in west Michigan, are you seeing any interest from these farms for custom application?

5: For you Michigan guys specifically, what’s the process to get your license from MDARD? I’ve looked on their site and I see what licenses are needed and available, but I didn’t really see what the process is and how long it takes.

I have a decent job right now and I’m trying to cover all my basis before I move forward to ensure I don’t go backwards financially. It seems drones are the future and it seems like it’s still in its infancy here in Michigan and it appears now is the time to get onboard if I decide to do it, I just want to make sure there’s enough money to be made to I’m making the same or more than I am now.

Thank you all in advance!