#AgDroneLife with Kyle Albertson

Kyle Albertson began dabbling with drones in high school, taking pictures around his hometown of Fowler, Indiana. While he enjoyed learning how to use the technology, initially borrowing a friend’s drone before buying one of his own, he never thought his hobby would turn into the career it is today.

“At first, I was just taking pictures of my friends or family in the field, but then began working with a local real estate agency, taking videos of houses,” said Albertson, who graduated from Purdue University in 2021 with a degree in agribusiness and management.

During his time at Purdue, Albertson obtained his Part 107 license, which is required by the FAA to operate as a commercial drone pilot. In 2019, after becoming licensed, Albertson interned with Sound Agriculture, using drones to take health maps on trial plots. That internship opened the door to the idea that Albertson could blend his love of drone technology with his background in farming. He began researching next steps and learned about Rantizo, a company based in Iowa that sold drones that could be used to apply pesticides. Albertson contacted Rantizo to purchase a drone and became the first Licensed Rantizo Drone Spraying Contractor in the state of Indiana.

Ag drones are used within the farming industry to monitor crops (overall health, growth patterns, pest infestations), spray crops (with fertilizers, pesticides and herbicides), map and survey land (to monitor erosion or other issues), track livestock, estimate yields and detect disease. Because agricultural drones are smaller than helicopters or crop planes, they’re able to fly into tighter areas. They provide farmers with another tool since ag drones are nimble enough to bring aerial spraying of pesticides, cover crop seeding or spot treatments to these previously inaccessible areas.

However, running an agricultural drone business doesn’t mean just buying a drone and opening your doors. It requires licensing both with the state as well as the FAA. Initially, Albertson was covered under Rantizo before he decided to launch Albertson Drone Service LLC in 2020.

He currently holds a Category 11 Pesticide Applicator license for aerial and ground pesticide application through the State of Indiana as well as a FAA Part 107 certification, and uses two drones for agricultural spraying (a DJI Agras T40 and T10) and another for aerial mapping (a DJI Phantom 4M).

“Albertson Drone Service, LLC became my full-time job once I graduated,” said Albertson. “I decided to give it a year to see if I needed to get a different sort of job, but it’s gone really well. This will be our fourth season.”

In fact, the amount of acreage Albertson services has doubled every year since he opened his business, growing from 500 acres in 2020 to 2,500 acres in 2023. He currently works with four dairy farms and 20 to 30 commercial farms in the area, and conducts test plots for Bayer, Syngenta and Pioneer. He also assists with habitat and conservation projects within Benton County.

“I help with wetlands restoration, spraying for invasive weeds,” said Albertson.

He anticipates that the business will only increase as interest in using agricultural drones continues. His future plans include working with local co-ops, adding several more dairy operations and hiring a full-time employee to work with him so he can take on more of a management role within his company. He’s also working to build his social media presence in order to drum up future business and share his day-to-day on his YouTube channel: Albertson Drone Service LLC.

Links:

https://www.albertsondroneservice.com/