Stay Informed

The American Farm Bureau Federation says drone users need to be aware of the specific regulations under the new Federal Aviation Administration rule.

Drone users must abide by specific FAA regulations under a rule announced in August. That’s why the American Farm Bureau Federation and the FAA teamed up to host a webinar to educate farmers on the rule in October.

In a recent of Newsline, AFBF’s twice-weekly podcast, R.J. Karney of AFBF’s budget & economic analysis department said the webinar is part of the FAA’s outreach to drone users.

“Agriculture is expected to be one of the fastest industries to adopt drone technology, and what the FAA was focusing on was what does the rule mean, how does it apply to them as a user or as someone who wants to use it for a commercial purpose so folks get a clear understanding of what rules of the air they need to abide by,” he said.

He added that it’s important that farmers and others in agriculture understand the regulations before flying.

“Drones are not toys; they are aircraft and need to be treated as such. So they need to know what the rules of the airway are going to be. There are crop dusters that are going to be sharing this airspace so it’s critical that any farmer not endanger the life of a crop dusters’ for instance, or anyone else that may be on the ground.”

He added that there are many ways you can learn about the rule.

“I highly recommend going to www.faa.gov/uas,” he said. “This is the main web portal for information. In addition, there’s an app for all smartphones – the FAA Before You Fly app.  And that’s a simple one-touch button that will allow a user to know whether or not they can operate a drone in the location that they are currently stationed.”