Agricultural drones have evolved rapidly over the past few years. Once viewed as more of a novelty for hobbyists, the latest models are more like flying tractors sporting a full suite of implements. Farmers in the US have taken notice are increasingly adopting drones or drone services as a core part of their operations, according to two new studies.
The first, “Farmer Perceptions of Agricultural Drones,” was conducted by our good friends at Stratovation Group. They surveyed full-time, large-scale row crop farmers across the US to gain insights on both the adoption drivers and resistance points shaping the future of agricultural technology at the field level.
“This research separates the real-life field-level signals from the industry hype,” said Cam Camfield, CEO and founder of Stratovation Group. “It spotlights what’s actually accelerating or hindering adoption by farmers at the ground level.”
Several key findings from the survey signal a high degree of market momentum for the agricultural drone sector:
• Perception drives value: Drone owners have a very positive perception of drones, with 67% expressing positive impressions and none having negative perceptions.
• A majority of current drone users (72%) say they plan to purchase or lease a new drone in the future, with 53% indicating they would do so within the next three years.
• More than half of current non-drone users (61%) indicate they also plan to purchase or lease a new agricultural drone in the future, with 30% indicating that would occur within the next three years, which indicates a widening gateway to mainstream adoption.
• The market continues to be wide open since more than 67% of respondents indicated they currently do not use drones of any type on their farm.
• Of the farmers currently using drones, the most common drone type by far was multi-rotor drones at 89%.
“What stood out wasn’t just the current use,” Camfield said. “It was the depth of future intent, even among farmers who haven’t yet made the leap. The expressed appetite to expand is real, and the pattern suggests the emergence of full-scale drone programs on farms, not just one-off experiments.”
The research, conducted in the third quarter of 2025, was based on a 20-minute online survey comprising 83 detailed questions. The full results are HERE.
A separate study looked at where drones have already taken off around the world. Co-author Ben Belton says that, historically, most agricultural technology – tractors, for example – has spread from high-income countries to middle- and then lower-income ones over the course of many decades. Drones partially reversed and dramatically accelerated this pattern, diffusing first from East Asia to Southeast Asia, then to Latin America, and finally to North America and Europe. While their use in higher-income regions is more limited, this study also found that use is accelerating rapidly in the US.
China leads the world in agricultural drone manufacturing and adoption. In 2016, a Chinese company introduced the first agriculture-specific quadcopter model. There are now more than 250,000 agricultural drones reported to be in use there. In the US, the number of agricultural drones registered with the Federal Aviation Administration leaped from about 1,000 in January 2024 to around 5,500 in mid-2025. Industry reports suggest those numbers substantially underreport US drone use because some owners seek to avoid the complex registration process. The full study is available HERE.
