Crop Spraying by Drone in Sumner County, Tennessee

Crop spraying prices in Sumner County, TN

Crop spraying in Sumner County, TN by drone is billed per acre, application only. You supply the product through your co-op or retailer, and a licensed operator applies it at label rate.

Service	Typical rate	Notes
Soybean fungicide / insecticide	from $12/acre	full-season and double-crop
Corn fungicide	from $12/acre	VT–R2
Wheat	from $11/acre	head scab, weeds
Pasture & hay weed control	from $13/acre	thistles, broadleaf weeds
Tobacco & specialty crops	from $20/acre	small plots, higher volume

Tennessee drone rates for row crops run about $9–$17 per acre, with a typical state figure near $12, and some local operators quote $15 or more. Our starting rates sit near the state typical. The final price depends on total acres per trip, carrier volume, field shape, obstacles such as tree lines, power lines and homes, and travel from Gallatin. Fields under 15 acres are usually billed at a 15-acre minimum.

Row crops, hay and a growing suburb

Sumner County mixes farm country with the fast-growing northern suburbs of Nashville. The USDA 2022 Census counts 1,248 farms on about 140,100 acres, with an average farm of 112 acres and about 56,900 acres of harvested cropland. Soybeans lead at about 12,800 acres, followed by corn at about 9,400 and wheat at about 7,900, with hay, pasture and tobacco filling out the north of the county.

Crop	Main drone jobs	Typical timing
Wheat	Fusarium head blight fungicide; broadleaf weeds	March–early May
Double-crop soybeans	Post-emergence herbicide; stink bugs and podworms	July–September
Full-season soybeans	Frogeye leaf spot fungicide; insects	R3, July–August
Corn	Southern rust and gray leaf spot fungicide	VT–R2, June–July
Pasture & hay	Thistles, buttercup, summer weeds	Spring and fall

Wheat and double-crop beans

A wheat–soybean double-crop is common in Sumner County and across Middle Tennessee. Wheat needs a head scab fungicide at early flowering, and the soybeans that follow need weed and insect control through late summer. Drones handle both without running over wheat at heading or rough stubble.

Southern rust in corn

Southern rust can arrive in Middle Tennessee corn in midsummer on storms from the south. A fungicide at tassel to early grain fill protects yield when the disease shows up early, and a drone sprays over full-height corn without crop damage.

Farming next to Hendersonville and Gallatin

Housing has spread across southern Sumner County around Hendersonville, Gallatin and White House, and many fields now border subdivisions, schools and roads. That changes how spraying is done:

• Precise edges: drones fly low with coarse droplets, keeping product on the field next to homes and yards.
• Small, irregular fields squeezed between developments are practical to treat without an airplane's wide turns.
• Quiet, short visits compared with large ground rigs moving along busy roads.
• Spot spraying targets problem areas instead of entire fields.

Hills, tobacco and strawberries in the north

The northern part of the county around Portland, Westmoreland and Bethpage sits on the Highland Rim, with rolling to steep ground, hay and pasture, tobacco, and produce farms. Portland hosts the Middle Tennessee Strawberry Festival, a nod to the area's small-fruit growers.

• Hillside pasture and hay are flown at a constant height without tractors on slopes.
• Tobacco plots get careful coverage, with each label checked for aerial use.
• Produce and strawberries are small blocks where precise edges matter.

Old Hickory Lake and creek buffers

Old Hickory Lake on the Cumberland River forms the southern edge of the county, and Bledsoe Creek, Station Camp Creek and other streams run through farmland. Labels require buffers from water, and drones hold mapped boundaries precisely, including on Sumner County fields that run right down to creeks and lake coves. Operators also keep an eye on boat traffic, docks and lakeside homes along Old Hickory, planning passes so that the outside edge of the field is sprayed with the wind blowing away from the water.

Spray calendar for Sumner County

Months	Typical jobs
February–March	Buttercup and winter weeds in pasture; wheat herbicide
April–May	Wheat head scab fungicide; corn and soybean burndown
June–July	Corn fungicide; double-crop soybean herbicide; summer pasture weeds
August–September	Soybean insects and fungicide
October	Fall thistle rosettes and perennial weeds

Tennessee licensing for drone spraying

The Tennessee Department of Agriculture (TDA) licenses pesticide applicators. Commercial drone work requires a license in the category for the job, such as Category 1 for agriculture, plus an Aerial Applicator (AER) license, and liability insurance is required for fee-based applications. University of Tennessee PSEP notes that a pilot's license is currently required to obtain the AER license. Farmers spraying restricted-use products on their own land by drone need private applicator certification and an AER license.

Federal rules require an FAA Part 107 remote pilot certificate, a Part 137 agricultural aircraft operator certificate and a Section 44807 exemption for drones over 55 pounds. If a label says ground use only, the product cannot be applied by drone.

How booking works

1. Send the field location, crop, acres and target.
2. We match you with a TDA-licensed, FAA Part 137-certified operator working in Sumner County.
3. You approve the per-acre quote and spray window.
4. The operator maps the field, applies and sends you the application record.

Communities we cover

Gallatin, Hendersonville, Portland, White House, Westmoreland, Millersville, Bethpage, Castalian Springs, Cottontown and Mitchellville, plus farms along the Robertson, Macon, Trousdale, Wilson and Davidson county lines.