Scottish farmers and contractors are unlikely to invest in drone technology for spraying, unless there is a change in the rules, according to George McLaren from McLaren tractors in Dingwall. Currently, there is no legal route for drones to be used to control pests and diseases in plants.

This is leading to concerns amongst many in the sector that Scotland is falling behind other nations that are able to take advantage of modern applications of plant protection products.

Drone spraying in the UK is considered to be an ‘aerial application’ of pesticides and there are currently no sprays authorised for the method in Scotland.

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Up until recently, the only pesticide product that had approval in Scotland for aerial spraying was Asulox. This had been granted annual Emergency Authorisations for the control of Bracken in recent years. However, this was not approved in Scotland this year with the government stating the chemical did not meet the legislative requirements for an Emergency Authorisation.

HSE, on behalf of all nations of the UK, states they are leading work with drone operators and other relevant industries to develop a shared understanding of the risks to ensure drone spraying can be done safely. However, currently, there are no legal ways to spray through drones in Scotland.

Mr McLaren said: “The term aerial application is interesting as in most agricultural sprayers, the spray booms and nozzles are suspended above the crop, with the spray droplets dropping down onto the crop from above by gravity. This to me is an aerial application.

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“The machine holding the chemical and water mixture is on the ground but the method of application of the chemical is the same as a drone. So, what is the difference between the metal boom holding the nozzle and a drone?

“The method of spray application is the same, arguably the drone would be better as the wind from the rotors blow the droplets down onto the plant. Spraying by drone is very accurate, uses electricity, and could do away with a vast amount of chemical and fossil fuel use.

“Traditional helicopter spraying requires the droplets to fall much further as the helicopter does not fly so close to the crop due to the danger of obstructions such as poles, electricity wires, topography, etc, but drones can fly much closer to the crop, one to two metres.

“Drone operators will not buy £20,000 drones if the rules say they cannot use them. We need Scottish agriculture to be competitive and leading the way, not Scotland says no!”

HSE, on behalf of all nations of the UK, is leading work with drone operators and other relevant industries to develop a shared understanding of the risks to ensure drone spraying can be done safely. However, with no legal route to spray with drones in Scotland, there are understandably very few farmers operating drones who can take part in the consultation.