Feds approve drones for farming use

They’ll be used to spray crops

Spraying crops with fertilizers and pesticides just got a whole lot easier for farmers.

The FAA has approved the use of large drones for farming applications.

The Yamaha RMAX FAZER will most likely be the drone-of-choice for farmers. It’s a roughly 200 pound helicopter drone that can carry up to 6 gallons of chemicals.

Yamaha’s Steve Markofski said the idea is efficiency.

“Where a tractor is going to be able to pull a ground-rig and cover a little over an acre an hour, we’re going to be able to hit as high as 16 acres per hour.” Markofski said.

The FAZER has been around a while, first built in 1997, according to Markofski.

It’s been used for farming in Japan for a while, but is now fair game in the U.S. as well.