By Al Stehly , Rural Health Department, CFB
Reprinted with permission from the California Farm Bureau Federation
In my San Diego County vineyard one day, I watched as my employees carried 60-pound backpacks loaded with chemicals. They trudged up and down hills, avoiding rocks and gopher holes while applying pesticides with mist blowers to protect my winegrapes.
There must be a better way, I thought.
I watched a video of Chinese farmers spraying rice with a drone and realized there was. According to market research, agricultural drone use, including for pesticide applications, is surging in the Asia-Pacific region. Drones offer a precise, targeted delivery system for farmers when helicopters or fixed-wing aircraft may be neither efficient nor cost-effective.
Besides being a farmer, I have been a licensed pesticide applicator for more than 35 years. I wanted to use this new drone technology, too. I wanted my employees to ditch their heavy backpacks and maintain distance from chemical applications.
So, I began a process I thought would be easy: getting a permit to use drones to administer pesticides.
But my three-year journey navigating Federal Aviation Administration licensing procedures and California Department of Pesticide Regulation rules revealed one obstacle after another. My frustration led me to seek help from the California Farm Bureau, of which I am a member, to pass legislation to help farmers access this beneficial technology. We are now close to achieving our goal.
A special license from the FAA is required for anyone operating a drone for commercial purposes. To use a drone weighing 55 pounds requires another FAA exemption. For me, that exemption alone took six months to be approved. Meanwhile, I’m still waiting to hear from the FAA on my drone license and a written test date.
Perhaps most exasperating has been my effort to secure a California journeyman pilot’s license, which can allow a qualified pesticide applicator with FAA authorization to apply crop-protection chemicals with a drone.
State DPR rules require an applicant to work as an apprentice for one year while logging 50 hours of experience under a journeyman pilot. Currently, there are only seven journeymen drone pilots in the state. Alternatively, that means finding a fixed-wing or helicopter pilot to apprentice under. That makes little sense. Drone pilots should be trained by drone pilots.
About two years ago, realizing this important technology was being hampered by outdated regulations, I approached California Farm Bureau President Jamie Johansson for assistance. Farm Bureau began a determined effort to craft a bill and find a sponsor. Peter Ansel, a senior policy advocate, took on the issue with passion.
Our first legislative attempts bogged down amid the pandemic. This year, Farm Bureau began working with state pesticide regulation officials and Assembly Member Reggie Jones Sawyer, D-Los Angeles, who agreed to carry Assembly Bill 1016. The bill gives DPR a path to modernize pesticide applicator credentialing requirements by creating training programs for drone aerial applications.
I started this journey in hopes drones could make pesticide applications safer and easier for my employees. Now the more I talk to farmers about drones, the more ideas I hear for additional uses in agriculture. For example, a nursery grower asked if he could use a spray drone to whitewash greenhouses, thus reducing the risks of having to do the job using ladders and scaffolds.
To promote understanding of AB 1016, California Farm Bureau sponsored a field day at the University of California, Davis, to demonstrate the safe and accurate technology of spray drones. More than 30 regulators attended, and their enthusiasm for the legislation was encouraging.
Some University of California Agriculture and Natural Resources drone experts in attendance noted it is even difficult to get licensed to conduct studies using this technology.
Ansel has helped organize a robust coalition of regulators, educators and farm groups as supporters of AB 1016. As the bill gained momentum, universities and community colleges took notice. Orange Coast College in Costa Mesa is now creating an associate science degree in unmanned aerial systems, with an emphasis on aerial applications from drones.
AB 1016 has to date cleared four state Assembly and Senate committees, as well as the full Assembly, without a single “no” vote. As the process nears the finish line with more work to be done, I am glad I raised the issue and proud of the way California Farm Bureau recognized its importance and crafted a plan to take this on.
Farmers deserve access to technology that safeguards agricultural workers and enhances our food production. Our work on drones is just one step in removing regulatory barriers and making possible a better farming future.
