Ag Drone Spraying in Hunt County, TX

Ag drone spraying prices in Hunt County, TX

Ag drone spraying in Hunt County, TX is priced per acre, application only, by FAA Part 137-certified operators licensed by the Texas Department of Agriculture. Rates below apply to Blackland Prairie fields and pastures around Greenville, Commerce, Caddo Mills and Quinlan.

Service	Typical rate	Notes
Wheat fungicide or insecticide	from $11/acre	Rust, armyworms, aphids
Corn and soybean fungicide	from $12/acre	Tassel and R3 passes
Cotton insecticide or harvest aid	from $13/acre	Fleahopper, defoliation
Pasture and hay weed control	from $12/acre	Product choice depends on season, see below
Hay armyworm insecticide	from $12/acre	Bermuda between cuttings
Brush and fence-row spot spraying	from $20/acre	Honey locust, briars, sprouts

Product is billed separately or supplied by you. Jobs under 20 acres are billed as 20 acres. Rates move with spray volume, field shape, tree lines and power lines, and travel. Operators serving the county quote roughly $12–$75 per acre depending on the job, and the Texas statewide typical rate is $12, so these rates sit at the low end for row crop and pasture work.

Hunt County farms by the numbers

Hunt County sits on the Blackland Prairie northeast of Dallas, where dark clay soils support both row crops and grass. According to the USDA 2022 Census of Agriculture:

Measure	Hunt County
Farms	3,504
Land in farms	355,339 acres
Average farm size	101 acres
Harvested cropland	121,062 acres
Wheat	21,960 acres
Soybeans	13,486 acres
Corn	10,153 acres
Cotton	7,412 acres

With an average farm of about 100 acres and fast suburban growth from Royse City to Caddo Mills, many jobs are small, mixed tracts: a wheat field, a hay meadow and a horse pasture on the same road. Agricultural drone spraying in Hunt County handles that mix without moving large ground rigs between properties.

Hunt County's regulated herbicide window

Hunt County is a Texas Department of Agriculture regulated-herbicide county, and its rule matters for anyone hiring a drone. Under the county special provisions, the aerial application of regulated herbicides is prohibited from April 15 through September 1 each year. Drones count as aerial application. Regulated herbicides include 2,4-D, MCPA, dicamba and quinclorac.

What that means for your fields:

• September 2 to April 14: drones can apply regulated herbicides, following the general rules on wind, volatile formulations and distance from susceptible crops such as cotton and gardens.
• April 15 to September 1: drone weed control must use products that are not on the regulated list, or the job goes to a ground rig.
• Spring pasture plans should be set early, so 2,4-D-based programs go on before mid-April.

A reputable operator will check this calendar before quoting. If someone offers to fly 2,4-D on your pasture in June, look for another operator.

Wheat: rust, aphids and armyworms

Wheat is Hunt County's largest crop. Leaf rust and stripe rust can build quickly in a wet spring, and a fungicide at flag leaf to heading protects yield. Armyworms and aphids are the main insect targets in April and May. Because Blackland clay turns to mud after rain, a drone is often the only way into the field when the fungicide window opens.

Cotton, corn and soybeans in summer

Cotton fleahoppers at squaring, stink bugs and bollworms later in the season, a tassel fungicide in corn and an R3 pass on soybeans are typical summer jobs. In late summer, drones apply cotton harvest aids on small or irregular fields. Fields next to cotton need extra care in fall when regulated herbicides return, since cotton is highly sensitive to 2,4-D and dicamba.

Does a drone work as well as a boom on pasture?

Texas A&M AgriLife trials in Northeast Texas compared drone application at about 2 gallons per acre with a ground boom at much higher volume on pasture weeds, and both reached about 99% control. The lesson: with the right product and timing, low-volume drone application performs as well as a boom, while avoiding ruts, compaction and damage to hay regrowth.

Hunt County spray calendar

Months	Main targets	Regulated herbicides by drone?
February–April 14	Pasture broadleaves, wheat weeds, early fungicide	Allowed
April 15–May	Wheat rust and armyworms, summer annual weeds	Not allowed
June–August	Cotton insects, corn and soybean fungicide, hay armyworms	Not allowed
September–November	Fall pasture weeds, brush regrowth, wheat burndown	Allowed from September 2

Horse pastures and small acreages

Hunt County is changing quickly as Dallas-area growth spreads east along I-30 and Highway 380. Many former farms are now 10–50 acre horse properties and weekend places. These tracts still need weed control, but they rarely justify hiring a full-size ground rig. A drone works well here because it can treat a small pasture in under an hour, stay inside tight property lines and keep spray away from homes, gardens and neighbors' horses. Horse owners should mention their animals when requesting a quote, since some pasture herbicide labels carry specific restrictions for horses and for hay fed to them.

Lake Tawakoni, creeks and neighbors

Hunt County drains to Lake Tawakoni and the forks of the Sabine River, including the Cowleech Fork. Operators honor label setbacks from water, map ponds and creeks as no-spray zones and use coarse-droplet nozzles. Near new subdivisions, landowners often let neighbors know a day ahead.

Licensing and airspace in Hunt County

• FAA: Part 107 remote pilot certificate, Part 137 agricultural aircraft operator certificate and a Section 44807 exemption for drones over 55 lb. Majors Field in Greenville has its own airspace, so jobs near the airport need FAA authorization.
• Texas Department of Agriculture: commercial applicator license with the General exam, the Aerial category and a second category such as Field Crops or Pasture and Rangeland, plus records for every regulated-herbicide application.

Ask for the operator's TDA license number before booking.