Ag Alert. October 11, 2023

Newsom signs bill easing farmers’ access to drones By Caleb Hampton Farmers will soon face fewer obsta- cles in getting approved to use drones for aerial applications thanks to a bill, signed into law Saturday by Gov. Gavin Newsom, that will modernize the California Department of Pesticide’s certification process. Growers of various commodities have touted the technology’s ability to im- prove worker safety, lower labor costs and boost crop yields. However, farmers say an outdated regulatory process has made it difficult for them and their employees to get li- censed to use drones to spray pesticides and biological treatments. “The regulations that have been in place for upwards of 40 years weren’t a

A biological pest-control drone from UAV-IQ Precision Agriculture of California flies over a vineyard. State legislation awaiting the governor’s signature would streamline the certification process for growers to use drones for aerial applications on farms.

really great fit with the technology com- ing to market and how farmers wanted to use it,” said Peter Ansel, policy ad- vocate for the California Farm Bureau, which sponsored Assembly Bill 1016.

The bill, which was introduced by Assembly Member Reggie Jones- Sawyer, D-Los Angeles, is “the brain- child of a California Farm Bureau member, who is a farmer and also an applicator,” Ansel said. San Diego County farmer Al Stehly be- gan looking into using drones to apply pesticides after watching his employ- ees trek up and down the slopes of his winegrape vineyards wearing backpacks loaded with 60 pounds of chemicals. Applying those chemicals with drones would improve worker safe- ty and efficiency, but Stehly faced a lengthy process to obtain the neces- sary certifications. To use drones for commercial aeri- al applications, farmers must obtain a license from the Federal Aviation Administration. Then, they need to get a special exemption to apply pesticides using drones weighing 55 pounds or more. Those requirements alone took Stehly six months, but he wasn’t done. He also needed to get a journeyman pi- lot’s license. In California, DPR rules require

applicants for that license to work as an apprentice for one year under a jour- neyman pilot. Because there are only a handful of journeyman drone pilots in the state, that typically means apprentic- ing for a fixed-wing or helicopter pilot in order to be allowed to fly a drone. “That makes little sense,” Stehly wrote in an editorial. “Drone pilots should be trained by drone pilots.” The new law will allow DPR to reform the pesticide applicator credentialing requirements and make specific training programs for drone applications. The bill will “add a whole (new) sta- tus” for commercial drone applicators, said Alfonso Garcia, staff member of DPR’s enforcement branch. That status will be a designation un- der the unmanned aircraft pilot license. “If you have this designation,” Garcia said, “a farmer would be able to make applications to their commodities.” Both chambers of California’s Legislature approved the bill with unan- imous bipartisan support. “We’re hopeful that we’ll see more of

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6 Ag Alert October 11, 2023