Ep. 103 Drones in Agriculture with Ryan Kloeppel

Main Topics Covered
Drone Technology in Agriculture: The discussion covers the evolution and benefits of using drones for custom spraying, including the equipment and technology required to start such a business.
Operational Insights: Ryan shares insights into the operational aspects of his business, such as the number of acres covered per day, the equipment needed, and the challenges faced, including battery management and equipment maintenance.
Licensing and Training: The episode discusses the necessary licenses for operating drones commercially, including the Part 107 drone operator's license and a commercial pesticide license, and the training involved.
Benefits and Challenges: The benefits of drone spraying, such as reduced crop damage and timely applications, are highlighted, along with challenges like equipment downtime and parts availability.
Future of Drone Technology: Ryan speculates on the future of drone technology in agriculture, mentioning potential advancements in drone size and battery technology.
Advice for Entrepreneurs: Ryan offers advice for those interested in starting a drone spraying business, emphasizing the time commitment and the importance of meeting farmers' needs promptly.

Transcription

Speaker 1 (00:08):Welcome to AgCredit Said It, your go- to podcast for insights on farm finance and maximizing your return on investment. Join us as we talk to industry leaders, financial experts, and area farmers, bringing you skillful advice and strategies to grow your farm's financial future. AgCredit Said It, where Farm Finance goes beyond the balance sheet.

Phil Young (00:39):Welcome back to AgCredit Said It, where we take you beyond the balance sheet of farm finance. I'm your host, Phil Young, and today we're talking with Ryan Kloeppel about his custom drone spraying business. So welcome to the podcast, Ryan.

Ryan Kloeppel (00:49):Thank you. Thank you for having me.

Phil Young (00:50):Yeah. So drone technology has kind of been this thing that's been around a while, but it seems like it's kind of taken on my fire here. And so just wanted to invite you on and talk a little bit about drone spraying. And you've been doing it for a while. Can you tell us a little bit about your operation?

Ryan Kloeppel (01:04):Sure, absolutely. So we have a farm operation in Delphos, Ohio, where we do row crop farming, wheat, beans, corn. Do this with my dad and my brother and uncle and cousin. As well as that we also do, I started a business about seven years ago, Kloeppel Drone Services, where we do custom spraying as well as cover crop.

Phil Young (01:34):Nice. Okay. So you were, and I think we were kind of talking off here, you were one of the first ones maybe in the area to- That is correct. ... to kind of do it? Absolutely. Yes. Yeah. So what kind of inspired you since you were one of the first ones to kind of jump into this market and then kind of do it?

Ryan Kloeppel (01:47):So it kind of inspired me back when I was in college. Drones had kind of taken over and was kind of the talk of the world really. And I thought, how could we incorporate that into our farming operation? And so I just started looking into it and it was something that I thought would benefit our business. So I started doing my research and over the years it just kind of developed into, okay, let's do it.

Phil Young (02:22):Yeah. So how from time of idea to kind of the time you bought maybe your first drone or sprayed your first field, was it years or-

Ryan Kloeppel (02:32):It was years. It was probably about two years.

Phil Young (02:34):Yeah. Okay.

Ryan Kloeppel (02:35):After college.

Phil Young (02:37):Okay. So a lot of guys just think, "Oh, I just go out and buy a drone. I'm sure there's other things you have to buy equipment wise to kind of size up to do something." What did you have to buy technology wise, equipment to be able to launch your business?

Ryan Kloeppel (02:51):Sure. So besides the drone itself, obviously you're going to have to have batteries to be able to run the drone. You need to have generator, if you don't have a truck, you're probably going to need a truck and trailer, mixing tanks, that's probably the gist of what you really need just to get started. So after that, you may need just some additional stuff, pumps, smaller things that may help you along the way.

Phil Young (03:25):Okay. Do most people, I assume, have more than one drone. Do you have more than one?

Ryan Kloeppel (03:31):I do, but I only really utilize one drone.

Phil Young (03:33):Do you? Okay. Gotcha.

Ryan Kloeppel (03:34):Yes. Okay. But we're kind of looking at advancing to the next step of a newer drone. So for right now, we just utilize one drone.

Phil Young (03:45):Okay. Gotcha. Yeah. I guess since this is a newer business, obviously spraying, custom spraying's not, but just the utilization of drones. What are some common questions you've gotten over the years that are kind of just boilerplate things that people are curious about and just maybe in the unknown or people are misconceptions or anything like that?

Ryan Kloeppel (04:09):I would say the biggest question I get asked is, how many acres can you do an hour? They want to know that and just how well can a drone penetrate into the canopy of the crops. I would say definitely one of the biggest misconceptions is probably the amount of acres you can get done in a day. Every drone is different. Every field is different. Every given day, the amount of acres you do is going to be different.

Phil Young (04:42):Okay. So to answer some of those questions, roughly on average, I'm putting you on the spot here, but how many acres a day do you think you can get done drone spraying if you started with your setup, yeah?

Ryan Kloeppel (04:55):So with my setup now, a good day, we're probably just a little under 300, 275- ish is a good day. I like to tell farmers I can do around 200 though, that just gives me a little buffer to make sure I'm getting things done on a timely manner. So when I first started with a little two gallon tank MG1P, I'd be lucky to get 50 to 60 acres done in a day. And then when I made the jump to a T30, we were getting about 170 to 200 acres done. And now I made the jump to a T40 a couple years ago and we get about 200, 250, I'd say on a regular basis.

Phil Young (05:44):Okay. So with the rig you have, just to kind of put it in my brain, how many gallons of chemical can you put in a unit like that?

Ryan Kloeppel (05:50):So it can hold about 12 gallon.

Phil Young (05:52):Okay.

Ryan Kloeppel (05:54):Usually we just like to put eight to 10 gallon in there. It just helps to save with battery and keep us going at a continuous basis. So if you kind of keep that, or if you fill it all the way to the top, usually you're starting to burn battery and then you're kind of waiting for batteries to charge and you want to keep that drone up in the air. So we find that doing that eight to 10 gallon kind of balances things out where you're continuously running a drone.

Phil Young (06:23):Okay. Well, nice. Okay. Yeah. So yeah, walk us through, I know we kind of talked about equipment, but like initial investments, both financial and time that you had to make to jump into this business. Sure. So after college,

Ryan Kloeppel (06:38):Drones were kind of developing. There really was no testing out there. Originally, they always just thought, "Oh, you kind of need your airline pilot license," which wasn't the case. They never really had the part 107 out there, but shortly after I graduated, they came out with the part 107 testing. So I started doing my research, trying to figure out how I need to study for that. And I went on to YouTube and they had some classes on there that you could just kind of watch and go over. So I did that for about two years, just constantly watching videos and yeah, finally I decided I'd go take the test and did that. Once I did that, I started looking into the drones themselves and figuring out what it is I need.

(07:43):It was probably a couple months after that. There was a company that started up called Rantizo, who was starting to get into the selling of drones and helping people out, assisting them with what they need, making sure that they're legal, have their insurance, everything is going just fine. So I got in contact with them. We started hashing out the finances of what I all need to do, drone, insurance, your mixing tanks, all that stuff. I started hashing out my finances and it's like, "All right, I think I'm ready to go. " So I went down to Iowa, did my training that was required, and then-

Phil Young (08:32):So what type of licensure do you have to have? Is there multiple ... I mean, obviously you're chemical.

Ryan Kloeppel (08:37):So you have to have your commercial pesticide, and then also you have to have your part 107, which is your drone operator's license. Okay.

Phil Young (08:51):Testing challenging for that guy?

Ryan Kloeppel (08:52):It is. It's a little challenging for somebody, but with a little bit of time and doing ... There's plenty of practice tests out there and books that you can read up on, you could pass it. So I just know when I took it, there wasn't much out there, but a couple videos on YouTube.

Phil Young (09:12):Okay. So flying a little blind pun intended. Exactly. Exactly. Yeah. Gotcha. So do you have to do reoccurring? I assume you have to do reoccurring things to kind of keep your license?

Ryan Kloeppel (09:24):That is correct. Yes. Okay. So 107 is every two years, you can go online, take your test. Originally, when I first started out, they would make you every two years go back in to a testing center at an airport and then you would have to retake your test, but they sense one away from that and you can do that all online. And then obviously your commercial pesticide license, it's every three, three years, you got to make sure that you re-certify for that as well.

Phil Young (10:00):Okay. Yep. Okay. Yeah. What's the biggest thing you've seen as far as the benefit of somebody hiring a drone applicator? Obviously, is time the big thing as far as ... And crop damage, I would assume, is the other one. What's the big benefit of having a drone go over your field versus kind of a normal custom applicator?

Ryan Kloeppel (10:31):Yes. Crop damage is definitely the biggest one. Time, yes, time is definitely one of our biggest challenges. We can only get so much done in a day, but in a way, if you look at it and drones came into this, if you're doing a fungicide application, you only have a certain window to be able to get in and spray.

Phil Young (10:55):Yeah, true. Yeah.

Ryan Kloeppel (10:57):So that kind of benefited people who go in with ground rigs because a lot of these farmers, they may look at the co-op or they may look at an airplane to come in and do the spraying. Well, they don't know when that's always going to necessarily happen because they got other people in the books and they want to get them done. So a lot of the farmers look to me like, "Oh, I can trust you to come out when I need it, whenever I need it. " And usually I'm there for them, but that's probably the biggest challenge we face is making sure that our time management is there for when the farmers need us. I would say also probably just within the past year, last year, our biggest challenge, we have a DGI T40. We had a generator that was made by DGI. We had batteries that went bad, but also we had a lot of parts that needed to be replaced.

(12:03):And so getting them from DGI was a challenge because of they were coming over from China, so we couldn't get them.

Phil Young (12:10):Okay.

Ryan Kloeppel (12:11):So last year was probably one of the more frustrating years that we've faced, a lot of downtime.

Phil Young (12:22):Yep. But yeah, as far as from the farmer perspective, yeah, obviously you hire you, you come out, do it, and obviously a time savings for them. And like I said, crop damage is the other thing, and just the timing of how far along the crop is, you can kind of just buzz over it if you want to do another application or-

Ryan Kloeppel (12:44):Or just a spot spray too.

Phil Young (12:45):Yep, spot spray too. Yeah. I'm sure you're like, "Hey, we just have this section of the field that's just rough. We don't really want to get the sprayer out. "

Ryan Kloeppel (12:53):Yep. And that's the thing too, is a lot of these farmers, what they love to do, if they're hesitant about it, they can sit there and say, "Well, I just want to see it this year on two acres. I can go out there and just spray two acres for them and use it as a test plot for them." So that's something that the farmers really love to see.

Phil Young (13:15):Yeah.

(13:17):Yeah. And I'm sure just the, like you said, spot spraying where it's like, "Hey, I've got two farms that just have a couple rough spots." It's like, "Hey, let's just send her out there, see what you can do. " Exactly. Okay, that's cool. Yeah. So obviously you guys have your, you're a busy guy, from my understanding, you've got an off-farm job, you've got your row crop operation, then you've got the drone business. I guess how do those two, those complement each other well, I assume? Obviously you're probably doing a lot of drone work for yourself.

Ryan Kloeppel (13:46):Oh yeah, it absolutely does. When I first started out, I mean, really tar spot never was a thing. Our family, we never really used fungicides or anything to help out with crop health. We just planted it, did what we needed to do, and hope Mother Nature would take over. When I started out with the drone, tar spot became a thing and it was like, "Okay, now let's use this fungicide and go out there and spray." So it was definitely a big benefit and we noticed a big ROI on utilizing drones with fungicide when there was tar spot, but that was definitely a big compliment on our farm.

Phil Young (14:39):Nice. Okay. Do you use it solely for custom spraying or I guess does this drone play another part in you guys, how you guys farm or ...

Ryan Kloeppel (14:51):Custom spraying and then we also utilize it on our farm as well, but another added benefit is also doing cover crop. We can do seeding. Oh, okay. We've done a little bit on our farm. We don't really get too hot and heavy on the seeding of cover crops, but we do have other farmers that like us to come in and get it down at an early time. Probably the biggest challenge is making sure you try to get it in before a rain, rain comes in. So you want to make sure those conditions of the dirt, soil are just right. So another thing that's kind of becoming popular is, which I kind of thought was crazy to start out with, we have a lot of guys who, when they have wheat, they like us to come in and double crop beans into their wheat. So we'll go and spread it really early right before our rain.

(15:53):And we've seen some pretty good results from that.

Phil Young (15:58):Really? Okay.

Ryan Kloeppel (15:58):Yep.

Phil Young (15:59):Okay. Gotcha. Okay. So

Ryan Kloeppel (16:01):We've done quite a bit, especially up north. Those guys, they see it work, but there's also been a few times where it hasn't worked. Yeah.

Phil Young (16:11):Well, you got to experiment, right? Yeah. No until you try it. Exactly. Yeah. I guess what advice would you give maybe a farmer or entrepreneur interested in kind of jumping into this line of work? Yeah,

Ryan Kloeppel (16:24):Sure. So when we're out, we do have a lot of entrepreneurs who like to come out and watch and somebody who's interested, they want to ask questions. The advice I give them is it's just not that you're going to be flying a drone for a couple hours and then you go home. This is very time consuming. You're working crazy hours from sun up to sun down. You're out in the heat, you got to be prepared. And when the farmer wants it done, you better get it done because they want it done yesterday. So that's the biggest advice that I can give to somebody who's interested in starting a business.

Phil Young (17:12):Yep. I just thought of this. Do you guys do any pictures like scouting with this, these machines? Not with these ones, probably smaller ones, but yeah. Do you guys do that kind of work for guys or? We do not. Do not. Okay. Gotcha. Okay. Nope. Yeah. So I guess, yeah, I always like to think of the future and kind of what's coming ... Where do you see this type of technology going? Has there been whispers or has anyone said, "Hey, this is where it's going in the future." Bigger drones, more efficient, bigger batteries? What do you think is on the horizon?

Ryan Kloeppel (17:46):I think obviously they're getting bigger. DGI is coming out with ... They just came out with a bigger drone. I see it getting a little bit bigger, but I do see eventually there being a cutoff at some point.

Phil Young (18:02):Okay.

Ryan Kloeppel (18:03):What that's going to be, I don't know, but I do see it becoming more and more popular within the farm operations. Battery technology, it's getting a little bit better, but there's still a ways to go with something like that. I don't know. I guess really right now, we're just kind of flying by the seat of our pants really and taking it day by day. Obviously there's changes with the FAA all the time and we got to abide by those. So technology.

Phil Young (18:46):It seems like the ... Is the GPS side of it pretty dialed in? I mean, you guys are able to map a field and just basically let it loose, right? I mean-

Ryan Kloeppel (18:55):For the most part, it's pretty good, but there are challenges in certain spots where you may lose signal if you're back in a ... If you're back in like a woods or whatever the case may be, you might lose some signal sometimes, but it's pretty, for the most part, it's dialed in. Around this area, you don't have issues. Yeah. We're not hilly or ... It can be a little more challenge too. Yeah. You might just have a couple fields that kind of jigsaw between a river, whatever. You have trees in the way. Yep. It'll happen, but ...

Phil Young (19:35):Yeah.

Ryan Kloeppel (19:36):Got to be prepared for that.

Phil Young (19:37):Yeah. Anything ... Yeah, I guess any advice or anything like that, last minute thoughts on just this business, if a farmer is, like I said, hesitant to maybe call you or, like I said, wants to just try it out. I mean, obviously you're willing to do whatever, I think. So if they want to come watch you do it and then just kind of get a visual and understand a little bit better if you've never seen it in action.

Ryan Kloeppel (19:58):Yeah. I mean, at any given moment, absolutely. They can come out and talk to me and if they just want to do a little test plot, I'm always there to help out with them. And I always enjoy working with farmers and helping them out any way they can. So I enjoy getting out there and doing that.

Phil Young (20:23):Good. Nice. Well, good, good. Well, thank you, Ryan. Thanks for joining us today. We appreciate you sharing your knowledge and just everything on drones and your business and farming. And to our listeners, thanks for listening to another episode of AgCredit Said It, and we'll talk to you next time. Thanks. Thank you.

Speaker 1 (20:46):Thank you for listening to AgCredit Said It. Be sure to subscribe in your favorite podcast app or join us through our website at agcredit.net, so you'll never miss an episode.