Autonomous spray gear stirs up attention

COLFAX, Iowa — Efficiency and technology were themes throughout the displays and demonstrations at the Aug. 14 Iowa stop for Beck’s Hybrids 2025 Becknology Days.

The sunny, clear sky made conditions prime to attract crowds to the Hylio ARES HYL-150 drone and autonomous mower demonstrations at the Beck’s Colfax facility.

Beck’s light robotics manager Jim Love held court on the field’s edge where the mower and drone operated most of the day in central Iowa.

Love drew on his multiple decades of experience during discussions with attendees throughout the day.

“It’s important to consider the surrounding area when it comes to finding a drone that fits your operation,” he said.

Top considerations when drone shopping include field size, terrain and proximity to buildings, Love said.

The HYL-150 drone completely outfitted costs about $72,000, he said.

“Spray drones in general have gone up. There was a big dump in the marketplace about a year or so ago, and so they kind of did a big inventory dump to try to get inventory off the shelves. … That sold artificially cheap,” Love said.

Running drones calls for strong focus.

“Tight fields, especially, require extra caution,” he said. “But accidents still happen.”

For example, his AG-116 Hylio AgroDrone at his Indiana home farm had a recent collision with a barn.

Fortunately, damage to the drone and barn was repairable, but it was a warning that resonated with audience reactions.

Regular aerial application groups are strained after farmers put a lot of fungicide on, Love said. As a result, it’s propelled increased use of spray drones in recent years.

“A big benefit is it allows farmers to be more in charge of the timeline of spraying applications,” Love said.

He added drones generally are excellent to cover “about mile-long rows, and they start getting pretty inefficient beyond that.” 

On the same field demo space, quick, sharp grass cutting by an autonomous Turf Tracer mower also initiated lengthy conversations with audience members.

“It’s a great time-saver,” Love said. “I know it helps me, personally, tremendously so I can get other things done at the same time.”

Some visitors eyed the autonomous machines like children browsing through a candy store.

The auto mower and drone are easy to monitor via apps, whether you’re in the house, barn or sitting in the passenger seat scrolling down the road headed to a vacation spot — where they can continue tracking the work or adjusting it.

In addition, the event featured breakout sessions about regional and seasonal timing of hybrid seeds conducted by product specialists.

Multiple shuttle riding tours throughout the day offered insight about root architecture on hybrid management, “green lightning” (a potential synthetic nitrogen replacement), fungicide application on corn via drones, two-pass programs, nozzles, creation of a commercial hybrid seed from start to finish and fall-seeded soybeans.