Drones are nothing new, but the agricultural use of drones has been booming over the last half-decade.

Drones have exploded in popularity over the last decade, but their agricultural applications have been limited until recently.

"So we do corn and soybean, wheat, fungicide application we also do a lot of cover crop spreading," says Fred Kungl, Owner of FK Agronomics. 

Fred Kungl is the owner of FK Agronomics, a company that helps farmers farm with a view from above. I met Fred at Deerfield Farms, just over the Mahoning County line in Portage County, where his fleet of drones was just finishing assisting with planting cover crops. An assist that can make the farmer's time in the field more productive.

"We wanted to speed up the process of being able to get different species of cover crop out on to the field before we harvest. We went ahead of the combine and we would plant several different mixes, put a couple of trials out for him, and we will see how they perform for him and his operation, but it allows him to keep doing other things," says Kungl. 

Manned aircraft have been the go-to aerial assistant for larger farms, but for smaller farms drones are a more strategic tool. Fred's fleet can cover 25 to 35 acres per hour depending on the application and his drones can hold liquid tanks over around 10 gallons with tanks for dry spreading that can hold over 100 pounds.

Fred tells me drones like this not only can improve a farmer's efficiency in the field but can also help their soil health when they get ready to plant for the next growing season. 

"What we are all trying to do, especially me with my growers is to ensure that they are sustainable. That means different things to different people but for us we want to make sure that the soil is resilient so when we have drought or dry weather the soil pays us back," adds Kungl.