While the number of spray drones sold for use in Canadian farmers’ fields is climbing, there are still no agricultural pesticides approved for application by drone in Canada heading into the 2025 growing season.
It’s up to crop protection companies to pursue changes to their product label through Health Canada’s Pest Management Regulatory Agency — a process that can take 16 months, explains Tom Wolf, spray application specialist with Agrimetrix and Sprayers101.
“For example, there was a submission for an agricultural fungicide made this fall,” he notes. “But it will be 16 months, it will be 2026, before we potentially see that product available in Canada.”
Tom stopped by the RealAg pop-up studio at CropConnect in Winnipeg following his presentation on the pros and cons of drone spraying. Watch/listen as we discuss the following:
- The hold-up on approvals of agricultural pesticide application by drone;
- The growing body of work on spray drone performance, and the need for more work on uniformity, swath width, and ways to mitigate “striping”;
- How geopolitics could affect drone cost and adoption if the U.S. moves ahead with banning Chinese (eg. DJI) drones;
- The illegality of spraying crop protection products in Canada, and the need for safe drone operation (see recent example in California of drone collision with water bomber plane from Quebec.)
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