Drone Spraying in Spokane County, Washington

Drone spraying rates in Spokane County

Drone spraying in Spokane County, WA is billed per acre for one pass, application only. You supply the product through your dealer or grain co-op, and the operator applies it at label rate, usually at 2–3 gallons per acre on grain.

Service	Typical rate	Notes
Wheat & barley fungicide	from $13/acre	stripe rust, flag leaf to heading
Grain herbicide	from $13/acre	broadleaf and grass weeds, spot spraying
Canola & pulse crops	from $14/acre	sclerotinia, aphids, weeds
Alfalfa & grass hay	from $13/acre	weevil, aphids, weeds
Orchards (Green Bluff area)	from $20/acre	5–10 GPA
CRP, pasture & noxious weeds	from $13/acre	spot or broadcast

Operators in the region quote roughly $14–$22 per acre for grain, and more for tree fruit, so our starting rates sit near the lower end. The final price depends on acres per trip, carrier volume, slopes and draws, obstacles such as power lines and rock outcrops, and travel from Spokane. Fields under 20 acres are usually billed at a 20-acre minimum.

Wheat country: what gets sprayed and when

Spokane County is a grain county with a city in the middle. The USDA 2022 Census counts 2,386 farms on about 572,000 acres, with roughly 156,600 acres of wheat and 31,400 acres of alfalfa and hay. Barley, canola, peas and lentils fill out the rotation on the Palouse ground south of Spokane.

Crop	Main drone jobs	Typical timing
Winter wheat	Stripe rust fungicide, broadleaf herbicide	April–early June
Spring wheat & barley	Herbicide plus fungicide in one pass, stripe rust	May–June
Canola	Sclerotinia fungicide at flowering, grass control	June
Peas & lentils	Aphids, weed control	June–July
Alfalfa & hay	Alfalfa weevil, aphids	May, between cuttings

Stripe rust

Stripe rust is the disease that drives most fungicide decisions in eastern Washington. WSU's stripe rust program recommends fungicide on susceptible and moderately susceptible winter wheat before flowering, and for spring wheat often at the time of the herbicide application. Fields near Spangle have been among those WSU checks each season. Scout first: when active rust is easy to find, a timely pass pays off.

Weeds

Italian ryegrass is the main grass weed on the Palouse, and mayweed chamomile is a growing broadleaf problem with herbicide resistance showing up. Spot treatment of patches by drone helps where resistance makes blanket passes expensive.

Drone spraying on Palouse hills and scabland edges

The south of the county is steep, rolling Palouse loess around Rockford, Fairfield, Waverly and Latah. To the west, the West Plains around Cheney and Medical Lake break into scabland with rock, ponds and channeled ground. Both shape how fields are sprayed.

• Steep hillsides where a self-propelled sprayer runs slow or cannot hold a line safely are flown on a mapped route.
• Wet spring ground in swales and draws is treated without ruts.
• Odd-shaped fields around scabland rock and wetlands are mapped precisely, with buffers kept from water.
• Field edges near homes on the fast-growing fringe of Spokane, Spokane Valley, Airway Heights and Liberty Lake are flown low with coarse droplets.

Green Bluff orchards and specialty crops

Green Bluff, northeast of Spokane, is Spokane County's orchard district, known for apples, cherries, peaches and berries on small family blocks. Codling moth and apple scab are the main targets in apples, and cherries need protection from cherry fruit fly. Small blocks on slopes, U-pick traffic and tight margins make drones a practical option for some cover sprays, at higher volumes than grain. Each label is checked first, since some orchard products prohibit aerial application.

A season of drone spraying in Spokane County

Months	Typical jobs
April	Broadleaf herbicide in winter wheat, first stripe rust checks
May	Stripe rust fungicide on susceptible winter wheat, alfalfa weevil, orchard cover sprays begin
June	Spring grain herbicide with fungicide, canola at flowering, pea aphids
July	Late stripe rust on spring wheat, second-cut hay, cherry fruit fly
August–October	Pre-harvest and post-harvest weed control, CRP and noxious weed spot work

Spokane County farms often need two or three passes in the same six weeks of May and June, when winter wheat, spring grain and canola all hit key stages. Booking a week ahead during that stretch makes it easier to get every field treated on time. After harvest, drones are useful for spot treatment of perennial weeds on CRP, field edges and rocky scabland ground that larger equipment avoids, a common need across the Spokane County countryside.

Washington licensing for drone spraying

The Washington State Department of Agriculture (WSDA) licenses pesticide applicators and requires that all drone applicators and application equipment used for hire be licensed. Commercial operators need a WSDA commercial applicator license with the right categories, proof of financial responsibility, and licensed equipment; WSDA guidance notes that equipment plates for drones must be on site and available for inspection.

On the federal side, operators need an FAA Part 107 remote pilot certificate, a Part 137 agricultural aircraft operator certificate and a Section 44807 exemption for drones over 55 pounds. Label directions apply in full: a product that prohibits aerial application cannot be applied by drone.

How booking works

1. Send the field location, crop, acres and target.
2. We match you with a WSDA-licensed, FAA Part 137-certified operator working in Spokane County.
3. You approve the per-acre quote and spray window.
4. The operator maps the field, sprays and sends you the application record.

Communities we cover

Spokane, Spokane Valley, Cheney, Medical Lake, Airway Heights, Deer Park, Rockford, Fairfield, Waverly, Spangle, Latah and Green Bluff, plus farms along the Whitman, Lincoln and Stevens county lines.