By Ron Wilson, director of the Huck Boyd National Institute for Rural Development at Kansas State University/Image: Wade Newland
Modern technology makes it possible for farmers to do remarkable things with their ground. Now, modern technology is making it possible for farmers to do remarkable things through the air.
Today we’ll meet a ruralpreneur who is using aerial innovations to enhance farm operations across Kansas and beyond.
Wade Newland is the founder of Newland Ag Drones. He grew up on the family farm near Neodesha. He was active in FFA and went on to earn a degree from K-State in animal science.
For ten years, he worked in John Deere farm equipment sales at Wamego before he and his wife Kristy moved back to southeast Kansas. They have four children. “One of them works with us in the drone business and doing on the farm spraying,” Newland said.
“I’ve always been drawn to technology,” Newland said. As a freshman in high school, he attended a training session on a new digital grain yield monitoring system and found it fascinating.
After moving back to southeast Kansas, Newland discovered drone technology. He decided to buy a drone from Agri Spray Drones for spraying his own pastures and crops. Having crashed his first drone, he then realized the limited supply of parts in the area. He called Agri Spray Drones and inquired about stocking parts.
“One thing led to another and here we are,” Newland said.
That led to creation of his own company, Newland Ag Drones, in June 2023. Today, his company is one of Agri Spray Drones’ largest dealers.
Newland Ag Drones is a full sales and service ag drone company. In addition to a product line of drones for sale, the company offers a full tech support line, repair and warranty work, and personalized, one-on-one training for drone operators.
The company can help purchasers navigate the multiple license requirements and restrictions. “This type of business is really over-regulated at the federal level,” Newland said.
Ag drones are used for aerial application of weed, pest, and parasite controls. “We can spray crops with certain chemicals such as fungicides and insecticides and also do pasture spraying,” Newland said.
Aerial applications have certain advantages.
“Let’s say it rains and it’s too wet to drive a tractor or a spray rig through a muddy field,” Newland said. “We can send a drone in at 20 or 30 miles an hour and get it done.”
While Newland says that drones will not replace a ground sprayer, he has noticed advantages from the air movement created by the drones.
“The prop wash creates a vortex that causes movement in the leaves and spreads the product more evenly,” he said.
Also, drones don’t require an operator to be physically present on the tractor seat. And drones can be used regardless of difficult topography, which a ground rig might be unable to navigate.
“We can apply product even in rough terrain and without opening gates,” Newland said.
These drones are primarily used for spraying, seeding or applying fertilizer, but there are other uses. A lift kit with a release grapple can be added to transport certain items. There are also mapping drones and drones that use thermal imaging. The thermal imaging, for example, can detect and locate body heat of an animal.
“We keep one in the gator during calving season,” Newland said. “It can find an image of where a calf is bedded down. I can even see where there’s a fawn hiding in the field.”
Drone technology has many advantages, but as Newland experienced, it needs more support. Newland’s newest initiative is to create a support system of parts and service dealers across Kansas and Oklahoma.
NewAg Dynamix is the name of his new company that consists of a dealer network across the central plains, supporting cutting-edge ag drone technology.
It’s quite an accomplishment for a business based in the rural community of Thayer, population 432 people. Now, that’s rural.
For more information, see www.newlandagdrones.com.
We commend Wade Newland and Newland Ag Drones for making a difference with innovative technology. For these applications, the sky’s the limit.
