Fields Only a Drone Can Fly
How to find them and what to charge. The plain playbook for operators done racing to the bottom on $13 corn.
Free PDF, no email required. Ten minute read.
Fields Only a Drone Can Fly
Find the wet bottoms, tall corn, odd fields and boxed-in fields a plane and a ground rig cannot touch, look up who owns them, and charge real money.
Download the field guideThe easy, flat, square acres are a price war. The going rate fell to about $13 an acre in 2025, down from $21 the year before. The money is on the acres a plane and a ground rig cannot reach: wet bottoms, tall corn at tassel, small odd fields, and fields boxed in by houses, a creek or an organic neighbor. This free field guide shows you how to find those fields tonight with eight free tools, look up who owns them, and price the job so you stop anchoring to $13. Iowa State 2026 put drone spray at $12.50 an acre average, so treat that as your cost, not your price. On these fields you are the only call.
What is inside
The four fields
The wet bottoms, tall corn at tassel, small odd fields, and drift-boxed fields a plane and a ground rig cannot reach.
Eight free tools
What each one shows you and the exact steps to run it. Most need no login. Build a call list by tonight.
The calls that book
Word-for-word scripts that lead with the field and the problem, not the price, plus what to say to the pushback you will hear.
A price guide
A job-by-job rate card so you quote above the flat-corn rate and stop bidding against three other drones.
A printable worksheet
One row per field: location, type, acres, owner, phone, and a fly / call / book checklist you can carry.
The four fields only a drone can fly
Each one is a field the competition cannot reach, or cannot do at all. The guide gives the flight settings and the timing for every one.
Wet bottoms
A rig sinks and ruts for days after a rain, and a plane cannot get in. Your drone never touches the ground.
When The 3 days after a soaking rain.
Tall corn at tassel
A rig tracks the corn and costs 3 to 6 bushels an acre. A plane cannot get spray down in the canopy. You spray top down where disease starts.
When VT to R1, around July.
Small and odd fields
A plane will not turn for an 11-acre triangle and a rig spends more time on the road than in the field. You fly it in one battery.
When Any short hop between bigger jobs.
Drift-boxed fields
Next to a subdivision, a school, an organic farm or a creek, one gust off a plane is a lawsuit. Your low, slow, big-droplet spray stays on the field.
When Any time, with chemical drift coverage in place.
Eight free tools to find them tonight
The guide walks each one step by step, in the order to run them. Most need no login.
- Web Soil Survey for the wet bottoms
- SoilWeb GMap for a drainage check from the field
- CroplandCROS for corn versus beans
- Google Earth Pro to measure and eyeball a field
- County GIS to find the owner
- Copernicus and NASA Worldview for standing water
- NWS radar and rain totals for where it just rained
- B4UFLY to check the airspace before you promise a date
Get the full field guide
Nine pages: the four fields, eight free tools, the calls that book, a price guide, and a worksheet you can print. Free, no email required.
Download the PDF