As many of you know, drones are seeing increased use cases for grower operations, including spray drones, scouting drones, aerial surveillance drones, and high-tech aerial scarecrows with dog fighting included! Well, some changes made in December are having an impact on drones in ag.

These changes resulted in Western Growers hosting an online webinar that we recorded and are making available to all. Here is the YouTube link for the recorded webinar that Western Growers hosted on the Foreign Supplier Drone Ban (and what it means for specialty crop agriculture). Moderated by my WG colleague Ben Palone with Briana Layfield (Founder and President of Ag-Bee LLC) and Kevin McDonald (Founder and CEO of Red Sparrow) and I as panelists, we covered a lot of ground. It was a great combination of drone operator (Brianna), regulatory landscape (Kevin), and grower perspective (Ben and I). We all expect drones to continue to gain traction because they are capable of solving multiple real problems for growers, often with economics that are getting compelling to growers. Here were some of the key topics (thank you to Brianna for building the slides).

First, what is the drone ban? In December 2025 the FCC added foreign-produced drones and critical drone components to its Covered List, which prevents new FCC equipment authorizations for covered products and prevents them from being imported, marketed, or sold in the US. Commonly discussed manufacturers include DJI and Autel Robotics.

Second, what does it mean for growers? Existing authorized drones remain legal to own and operate, and previously approved models can continue to be used in commercial agriculture, research, and public safety operations. New foreign-produced drone models face significant barriers to entering the US market. Manufacturers requiring new FCC approvals may be unable to launch future products without an exemption or security determination.

Third, the agriculture has some concerns: (1) limited availability of new spray drone platforms; (2) supply chain uncertainty; (3) higher equipment costs; (4) limited domestic drone manufacturing capacity; and (4) questions about replacement parts, service and support, and long-term fleet planning.

Fourth, what is the future outlook? Likely outcomes include: (1) Blue UAS Cleared List and domestic end products with at least 65% US content are both likely to be FCC exempt through Jan 2027); (2) conditional approvals for 11 systems (including ag spray) will expire December 2026; and (3) FAA Part 108 (BVLOS) has final rule pending. Watch dates are December 31, 2026 (all conditional approvals expire); January 1, 2027 (Blue UAS and Buy American exemptions lapse absent further DoW action; and (3) January 1, 2029 (firmware and software updates for existing authorized fleets protected).

Bottom line – existing fleets remain operational, but the decisions made over the next several years will likely define the future of agriculture drone adoption in the US.