FAA

With drones taking off in agriculture, the FAA is stepping up enforcement. What does this mean for our farming community?

The National Agricultural Aviation Association is asking drone operators to be mindful of low altitude manned agricultural aircraft operations. With the growing season getting underway, those operations will increase across the nation. Agricultural aviators treat 127 million acres of cropland in the United States each year and perform a variety of services that help farmers increase productivity

In December, the Federal Aviation Administration submitted a proposal requiring remote identification of drones in flight. The American Farm Bureau Federation recently submitted comments to the FAA regarding the rule. "Remote identification is the ability of an unmanned aircraft or drone in flight to provide identification and location information so that people on the ground," noted t

On May 22nd, a federal rule requiring owners to register recreational drones with the government was deemed illegal by a federal appeals court.  Since January 2016, UAVs larger than 1.5 pounds needed to be registered with the FAA.  But, last week’s decision said such a rule can only come from Congress.   Will t...

A new poll finds a growing percentage of farmers plan to operate a drone this year.  The poll by Farm Journal Media found 21% of farmers will operate the drone themselves, while another 12% of farmers indicated they would opt for a third-party entity to fly drones.  Mo...

Washington State University is currently in talks with the Pullman-Moscow Regional Airport about relocating research animals housed nearby.  The airport is looking at expanding the runway to meet FAA requirements.  Which means the extended runway would fly over pens and barns holding animals on the eastern edge of WSU’s campus.  Dr. Bryan Sli...

The FAA’s new rules for unmanned aerial systems, better known as drones, went into effect on Monday.   Joe Mora with the FAA said there are areas, particularly for agriculture, where exemptions can be made.   For example, Mora said restrictions on flying times is one area where agriculture can get an exception.   “When ...

Agriculture should be one of the largest industries to benefit from the new drone rules issued by the FAA earlier this week.  The American Farm Bureau said it will continue working with the FAA to tweak certain restrictions in the rules.  ...