Drone Spraying in St. Landry Parish, Louisiana

Drone spraying prices in St. Landry Parish

Drone spraying in St. Landry Parish, LA is billed per acre, application only. You supply the product through your dealer, and an LDAF-licensed operator applies it at label rate and volume.

Service	Typical rate	Notes
Soybean fungicide / insecticide	from $12/acre	stink bugs, leaf blight; R3–R5
Rice fungicide / insecticide	from $13/acre	sheath blight, blast, rice stink bug; 3–5 GPA
Sugarcane ripener & borer control	from $18/acre	3–5 GPA, tall cane
Corn & grain sorghum	from $12/acre	fungicide, sugarcane aphid
Pasture & hay weed control	from $12/acre	broadleaf weeds in bermudagrass and bahiagrass

Louisiana drone rates run about $9–$17 per acre for soybeans, rice and corn and $17–$31 for sugarcane, so these starting rates sit in the lower half of each range. Price depends on total acres per trip, carrier volume, field shape, distance to crawfish ponds and other sensitive areas, and travel from Opelousas or Eunice. Fields under 20 acres are usually billed at a 20-acre minimum.

Louisiana's most diversified farm parish

The LSU AgCenter describes St. Landry as the most diversified parish in the state, with nearly every major Louisiana crop grown here. Soybeans lead at about 73,000 acres, followed by sugarcane at about 28,000 and rice at about 27,000 acres a year. In 2023 the parish also had about 35,900 acres of crawfish ponds, plus beef cattle and horse farms.

Crop	Main drone jobs	Typical timing
Soybeans	Redbanded and other stink bugs; Cercospora leaf blight and aerial blight	R3–R6, July–September
Rice	Sheath blight and blast fungicide; rice stink bug	Boot to heading
Sugarcane	Ripener applications; sugarcane borer	Borer in summer, ripener late August–October
Corn & sorghum	Fungicide; sugarcane aphid in sorghum	June–August
Pasture & hay	Broadleaf weeds	Spring and early summer

Spraying next to crawfish ponds

Crawfish are the issue that sets St. Landry Parish apart from most drone markets. Rice fields are often flooded for crawfish after harvest, and ponds sit right next to soybeans, cane and rice. Several common insecticides, including pyrethroids, are highly toxic to crawfish, and even small amounts of drift can cause losses in a neighbor's pond.

Drones help manage that risk:

• Low flight and coarse droplets keep spray close to the target.
• Mapped buffers around ponds, ditches and flooded fields are held precisely on every pass.
• Edge passes next to water can be flown manually or skipped, with the rest of the field treated normally.
• Product choice: the operator checks the label for aquatic and crawfish warnings and talks with you about alternatives near ponds.

Tell the operator about every pond and flooded field near your ground, including your neighbors', before the job is scheduled.

Sugarcane ripener by drone

Sugarcane acreage in St. Landry Parish has grown sharply in recent years. Ripener is applied to cane several weeks before harvest to raise sugar content, and it has to stay on the cane block: drift onto nearby young cane, rice or soybeans can cause damage. LSU AgCenter researchers have tested drones for ripener and noted that drones can apply it more precisely than airplanes. Drones also make it practical to treat irregular cane blocks next to homes and other crops.

Wet ground, heat and humidity

Flat fields, heavy rain and humid summers are part of farming in St. Landry Parish and the rest of Acadiana. Fields stay too wet for ground rigs after storms, and rice fields are flooded for much of the season.

• No ruts in saturated soybean and cane fields, so fungicide and insecticide go on when needed.
• Flooded rice is treated from the air without levee damage.
• Morning flights avoid the worst afternoon heat and thunderstorms, and keep droplets from evaporating.
• Fast turnaround after storms, when stink bug and disease pressure can jump quickly.

Spray calendar for St. Landry Parish

Months	Typical jobs
April–May	Pasture weeds; early rice herbicide and fertilizer timing
June–July	Rice sheath blight and blast fungicide; sugarcane borer scouting; corn fungicide
July–September	Soybean stink bug and leaf blight passes; rice stink bug at heading
Late August–October	Sugarcane ripener ahead of harvest

The soybean insect window and the start of ripener season overlap in late summer, so booking a week ahead in St. Landry Parish helps keep each field on schedule.

Louisiana licensing for drone spraying

The Louisiana Department of Agriculture and Forestry (LDAF) licenses pesticide applicators and businesses. A company spraying by drone for hire needs an Aerial Owner Operator License, and the pilot needs commercial certification that includes the aerial category. LDAF requires the LSU AgCenter Drone Safety Program as a pre-certification course before granting commercial certification for drone applications. Farmers who spray only their own land with their own drone need an LDAF drone operator license.

Federal rules require an FAA Part 107 remote pilot certificate, a Part 137 agricultural aircraft operator certificate and a Section 44807 exemption for drones over 55 pounds. If a label prohibits aerial application, the product cannot be applied by drone.

How booking works

1. Send the field location, crop, acres, target and any nearby ponds or flooded fields.
2. We match you with an LDAF-licensed, FAA Part 137-certified operator working in St. Landry Parish.
3. You approve the per-acre quote and spray window.
4. The operator maps the field and buffers, applies and sends you the application record.

Communities we cover

Opelousas, Eunice, Port Barre, Sunset, Grand Coteau, Leonville, Arnaudville, Krotz Springs, Melville, Washington, Palmetto and Cankton, plus farms along the Evangeline, Acadia, Lafayette, St. Martin and Avoyelles parish lines.