# Drone crop monitoring and spraying: separate the survey from the application URL: https://leafwrit.com/mt/choosing-agricultural-spraying-drones/ Reviewed: 2026-10-29 ## Choosing an agricultural spraying drone for a Maltese holding Agricultural drones for sale, farm drones for sale, farming drones and agri drones differ in what they carry: a UAV in agriculture may be a camera platform, a sprayer or a spreader. Before comparing them, decide whether you need crop photographs, liquid spraying or granular spreading, because EASA’s open category excludes dropping material. The aviation route for a flight depends on the open or specific category; see [Transport Malta’s drone information](https://www.transport.gov.mt/Aviation/Drones/Information-Help-4445). Register and request flights on the IDRONECT portal. **Check the spraying restriction before buying:** regulation 8 of Malta’s Sustainable Use of Pesticides Regulations prohibits aerial spraying, with a special-case approval route subject to conditions. Aviation permission does not replace this pesticide rule. Ask FSSA how it applies to the proposed drone, product and operation before you pay a deposit. The same question applies to a crop dusting drone, a drone chemical sprayer or a farmer drone spray offer, whatever the seller calls it. Prepare a parcel sketch showing boundaries, access gates, overhead services, nearby buildings, public routes and where you would stand on the ground. Add the crop, the canopy shape and the task. Ask Transport Malta which operational route applies to that description, and send the same description to FSSA when you ask about the spraying method. For a DIY agricultural drone, describe the finished configuration. The DJI AGRAS T25 has a twenty-litre spray tank and a maximum spraying takeoff weight of fifty-two kilograms at sea level. Compare tank volume, aircraft weight without battery and weight with battery separately, and check which exact version the supplier’s offer covers. The best agricultural spraying drones differ from one holding to another, so set tank volume, spray width, sensing limits and local servicing against your own parcel and crop. Compare the tank, atomising sprinklers, delivery pumps and spreading assembly. Effective spray width varies with the operating scenario and required coverage evenness, so read the test conditions before applying an advertised swath to a narrow Maltese field. Obstacle sensing uses phased-array radar and binocular vision. Its performance depends on lighting, rain, fog and the material, position and shape of obstacles. Read the published limits and note the wires, walls, trees and people around your fields. Versions of the same drone may be sold with or without class identification, so check the physical class mark and the EU Declaration of Conformity on the unit you are offered. An agriculture drone price, farming drone price, agri drone price, agri spray drone price or water spray drone price tells you little unless every quotation covers the same package. The same goes for an agriculture drone for spraying fertilizer and pesticides. Ask for a quotation that names the aircraft version, battery sets, charging supply, delivery pumps, atomisers, training, spare parts and servicing. For a 20 litre agriculture spraying drone price, state the tank size you need so that the offers compare the same class of aircraft. For used agricultural drones for sale, ask for the repair and maintenance history. Ask any drone company in agriculture who to call locally for battery faults, pump repairs and software support. Weigh the whole package against the water, charging and landing space you actually have on the holding. The T25 has different dimensions with propellers unfolded, propellers folded, and arms and propellers folded. Spraying and spreading also have separate maximum takeoff weights. Compare the vehicle opening with the transport size and the field clearance with the deployed aircraft. T25 hovering accuracy depends on a strong GNSS signal and whether RTK is enabled. The vertical figure with RTK disabled also depends on the radar condition. ### Compare charging, sensing and spreading components The flight battery and the controller battery are separate; list them separately. The T25 package uses a DB800 Intelligent Flight Battery. Its D6000i generator has DC charging and AC output channels, while the C8000 charger has its own electrical input requirements. Match the offered power supply to the place where you will charge. The C8000 includes protection against overheating, over-voltage, under-voltage, short circuits and a stalled fan. Check the connector protection and cable condition when you take over the equipment, and ask for the operating and storage instructions for each battery and charger. For spreading, granule diameter, spinner-disc speed, hopper opening and flight altitude affect distribution width. Treat the spreading assembly as separate from the liquid atomisers and pumps, and write the coverage you need into the service description along with the machine settings. ## Precision agriculture with drones: use crop monitoring to decide where to inspect next Drones and precision agriculture, including precision ag drones and a precision agriculture UAV, meet most often in crop monitoring: drone-based crop monitoring directs ground inspection towards unusual patches. Comparing affected areas with healthier plants on foot identifies the cause of the visible difference. When commissioning a survey, specify the image type, vegetation indices, map legend and interpretation, plus the parcel boundary, date and the spots to inspect on foot. RGB imagery records natural colour and helps locate visibly different crop patches. Multispectral imagery supports indices such as NDVI and NDRE, revealing variability less obvious from a field edge. Say which outputs you need before the flight. NDVI becomes less sensitive as a dense canopy develops. NDRE uses the red-edge spectrum to provide information about chlorophyll and later crop condition. Pick the index to suit the crop stage. Read each map’s numerical legend before comparing outputs. Colour scales and displayed values differ, so compare actual values and locations across surveys. Exposed soil, mixed pixels and image-edge effects can lower boundary readings. Reduced stands, water stress, weeds and nutrient limitations also affect values, so check those possibilities in the field. AgriKonsulta offers IPM advice, soil and water analysis, irrigation guidance and tailored fertiliser plans. Prepare a short enquiry with the parcel, crop, survey date, affected spots, ground photographs, recent work on the field and the question you need answered. For a pale patch, compare leaves, stand density and soil with nearby healthy crop, and match each ground photograph to its place on the map. Keep the diagnosis next to the image instead of guessing a cause from colour. In a Kansas corn survey published in July 2026, ground inspection identified sulphur deficiency in yellow patches. Mark places for a closer look rather than turning low vegetation-index pixels straight into a treatment map. Save each diagnosed location with the RGB photograph and both index layers. ## Charging equipment: compare electrical requirements and protection The C8000 charger accepts 100–240 V AC input; its output is 59.92 V with a maximum current of 100 A. The DB800 flight battery is rated at 52.22 V nominal. Before comparing charging setups, work out whether a figure describes the mains connection, the charger output or the battery. The advertised battery charging time depends on charging-station altitude, a suitable fast-charging cable and battery-cell temperature. Ask the supplier to show a full cycle with the power supply and batteries on offer, and note the start and finish conditions when you compare a generator package with a mains charger. The remote controller has its own internal and external battery runtimes and a separate USB-C charging specification. The relay also has an independent power supply and operating time. Plan controller endurance separately from flight-battery turnaround, and put both devices on the equipment list. ## Next step Prepare the parcel sketch and operation description, then ask [Transport Malta](https://www.transport.gov.mt/Aviation/Drones/Information-Help-4445) which aviation route applies. Refer pesticide-application questions to FSSA through the [authorisation guide](/mt/authorised-pesticides-malta/). Record ground observations with the [IPM monitoring sheet](/mt/ipm-monitoring-sheet/).