How it works

From phone call to sprayed

Most growers have never had a drone operator on the property and don't know what they're agreeing to. Here's the whole thing, with nothing left vague.

The process

Four steps, no surprises

Tell us the job

Crop, hectares, chemical, location and a rough window. Two minutes through the booking form, or a phone call if you'd rather.

Quote & schedule

A fixed written quote and a date. We check airspace, obstacles and neighbouring sensitive areas before we commit to anything.

We fly it

We map the block, load your chemical to label rate, fly the mission and monitor wind and drift the whole way through.

Proof of application

A job record: area covered, rate applied, product, batch, weather at the time and the flight map. Ready for audit.

On the day

A day on your place, start to finish

A typical broadacre job, hour by hour.

Night before

Weather call

We look at wind, temperature and inversion risk for your window and ring you if it isn't going to work. Better a call the night before than a wasted morning for both of us.

5:30 am

Arrive and set up

Trailer parked on firm, level ground near the block — a laneway, headland or shed apron. Generator started, batteries on charge, RTK base station set.

6:00 am

Walk the block with you

Powerlines, dams, tree lines, neighbouring crops, stock, and anywhere you don't want us. Ten minutes here prevents every problem worth preventing.

6:20 am

Map and mix

Boundary loaded, flight lines and buffers set. Chemical mixed to label rate, batch numbers recorded, PPE on. Wind logged before the first pass.

6:40 am

Flying

Autonomous flight lines with us on the controller throughout. Refills and battery swaps every few passes — roughly a 90-second turnaround. Wind rechecked continuously.

Midday

Stop or push on

If the wind gets up, we stop. Part-sprayed and finished tomorrow beats a drift claim on the neighbour's cotton. You get a call either way.

Same day

Job record emailed

Area covered, rate applied, product and batch, weather at application, and the flight map showing exactly where we went.

What we need from you

  • A firm, level place to set up within reach of the block
  • Access to water if we're filling on site
  • Ten minutes to walk the hazards with us
  • The chemical, or your agronomist's written recommendation
  • A phone number you'll actually answer on the morning

You don't need to be there all day. Plenty of growers point us at the paddock and get on with their own work.

When we'll stand a job down

  • Wind above the safe limit for the product and droplet size
  • Dead-calm conditions with a suspected temperature inversion
  • Wind toward a susceptible crop with insufficient buffer
  • Rain imminent inside the product's rainfast period
  • An unresolved hazard that wasn't there at planning

A stood-down job is rescheduled at the earliest workable window, and you aren't charged for a job we didn't do.

Through the year

When growers use us

Drone work isn't one season. Worth a look at where your own program has gaps.

Mar – May

Autumn / pre-plant

  • Knockdown on wet fallow
  • Pasture over-sowing
  • Slug and mouse bait
  • Cover crop seeding
Jun – Aug

Winter crop

  • Post-emergent herbicide
  • Fungicide on wet paddocks
  • Urea onto standing crop
  • Blackberry and woody weeds
Sep – Nov

Spring / finishing

  • Late fungicide and insecticide
  • Orchard and vine programs
  • Desiccation and harvest aid
  • Pasture weed control
Dec – Feb

Summer

  • Summer fallow weeds
  • Cotton, cane and sorghum
  • Late-stage tall crop work
  • Regrowth and creek lines
Straight answer

When a drone is the right tool — and when it isn't

Plenty of operators will quote anything put in front of them. We'd rather tell you now and keep you as a client for the jobs we're genuinely better at.

Ring us for this

  • Ground's too wet to travel and the window is closing
  • Steep, timbered or gullied country
  • Crop is past the height your rig can clear
  • Block is under about 200 ha, or an awkward shape
  • Scattered weed patches rather than whole-paddock coverage
  • Orchard, vine or tree crop — especially on a slope
  • Powerlines, dams and headlands the rig can't work around
  • You need it done inside 48 hours and your contractor is booked out

We'll tell you to use the boom

  • Flat, dry, open broadacre over about 500 ha in one hit
  • Very high water rates the label won't let us go under
  • Products not registered for aerial application
  • Susceptible crops close downwind with no workable buffer
  • You already own a rig that can do the job this week
  • Sustained wind outside safe limits for the whole window

Ready when you are

Tell us the crop, the hectares and the window. Written quote back the same day.