Latest from the field

Hiring someone to spray your farm by drone should involve more than a pilot arriving with an aircraft and pressing “start.” A spray drone is both an aircraft and chemical-application equipment. Farmers should expect the operator to be properly licensed, insured, organised and able to provide clear records of the work completed. The correct licences For professional drone spraying in Victoria, several aviation and chemical-application licences are required. The pilot should ho

When a local Gippsland olive grower discovered olive lace bug across their grove, they knew the trees needed attention. The challenge was not finding the problem—it was working out how to treat approximately 500 olive trees quickly and effectively. A job that could have taken weeks The grower already had a treatment in mind and initially planned to apply it using a 14-litre backpack mister. One full backpack covered only around three trees and took approximately 15 minutes of

Capeweed has been a recurring problem across Gippsland this winter. Several farmers have contacted Swift Drone Solutions after seeing it spread through their pastures—often while wet, soft or waterlogged ground has made access with conventional spraying equipment difficult. Capeweed can provide some feed value early in the season, but it also competes with desirable pasture species for space and resources. Agriculture Victoria notes that capeweed contains around 85% water and

Spraying a short, open paddock is one thing. Spraying above dense corn, mature fruit trees or an established olive grove can be a very different challenge. Tall crops can restrict access, block spray equipment and make manual application slow and physically demanding. In the right situation, an agricultural drone can apply treatment from above without driving through the crop. Here are five tall crops commonly found across Gippsland where drone spraying may offer a practical

Wet winter paddocks can make boom spraying difficult and damaging. See when drone spraying offers the advantage—and when a boom sprayer is still the better choice.