ONTARIO GRAIN FARMER TECHNOLOGY 28 Clear numbers. Clean books. Confident decisions. From receipts and invoices to real-time insights, everything stays organized in one secure place. AgExpert Accounting is built specifically for Canadian farms, making it easier to understand your numbers and make confident decisions. Farmers and accountants across Canada have relied on AgExpert Accounting for more than 20 years. Solid. Simple. Built for the farm. Start Now 23393_AGEX_2025_FY26_Q4_CCC_EN_4-687x6-062_v1_HR.pdf 1 2026-02-03 1:02 PM cent more surface area than the intended treatment area, respectively. And for some reason, while data indicated higher operational speeds did increase the T50 swath width, higher speeds had no correlation with the T100 swath width. Another intriguing one-off finding, says Deveau, was an instance where the T100 appeared to achieve “true forward flight”, similar to that of a helicopter, indicating that “maybe at a certain speed I can no longer say it’s different than a helicopter.” Other researchers trialing drone efficacy have also found the droplets emitted by rotary atomizers might be a category smaller than what operators might see detailed on the controller. “None of these companies have ever said they’re compliant with any ISO. They’ll tell you the microns they’re producing but you don’t know whose standard that is,” he says. Deveau’s general point for farmers and custom operators is that drones are a rapidly changing tool with significant potential, but the wild west environment they’re being fielded in today should make us cautious. While Canadian regulators have yet to approve common agricultural inputs for use in drone systems, he also reiterates Canadian farmers may not be at a disadvantage currently. “With the release of this new generation of high-speed rotary drones, we are approaching a situation where a drone might be able to complete with the productivity of a ground rig. Now I’m not saying it will be consistent…but hypothetically it’s knocking on the door. They’re getting bigger, they’re getting faster, and while this might close some gaps, it opens others,” Deveau says. “The point is, it’s changing and its changing fast. What a drone is, what you might want to do with it, what you shouldn’t do with it – we’re all still figuring this out. A drone is very easy to use wrong.” • continued from page 27
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