Dive Brief:
- The FAA is set to announce its much-anticipated rules on the commercial use of drone aircraft, according to the Wall Street Journal, and the regulations may not come as welcome news in the food and agriculture industry.
- The new rules would require that operators have a pilot's license and keep their aircraft within sight, according to the Journal, which cites unnamed sources familiar with the new rules.
- Such regulations would effectively ban the two drone applications of interest to the food industry: a) ag drones that can monitor crops and apply fertilizers, etc. on farms, and b) delivery services such as those envisioned by Amazon.
Dive Insight:
The vision of a newer, even more high-tech era of precision agriculture is potentially over. Ag drones may never get off the ground - or perhaps they will.
It seems inevitable that ag drones will become the focus of another political battle. We'd expect congressional hearings and such to come soon.
The Amazon drones, however, appear grounded for the foreseeable future.