Drone Spraying in Gage County, NE for Corn and Soybeans

Drone spraying prices in Gage County

Drone spraying in Gage County, NE is charged per acre, per pass, application only. The University of Nebraska–Lincoln's 2026 custom rates report put drone spraying at $15.17 per acre statewide (range $13–20) and $16.67 in the East district, with drone cover crop seeding averaging $19. Our rates:

Service	Typical rate	Notes
Corn fungicide	from $14/acre	VT–R3
Soybean fungicide and insecticide	from $14/acre	R3, stink bugs, gall midge
Post-emerge herbicide	from $14/acre	Rescue passes
Cover crop seeding	from $17/acre	Rye into standing corn or beans
Pasture weed control	from $15/acre	Musk thistle, sericea

Each visit has a $250 minimum. Quotes reflect acres per trip, terraces and waterways, distance between fields and the spray volume on the label. For comparison, UNL lists a self-propelled ground sprayer at $9.32 in the Southeast district, but it can't run in tall corn or wet clay.

Gage County farm numbers

The 2022 Census of Agriculture counted 1,156 farms on 541,630 acres in Gage County, with $388.4 million in sales, 71% of it from crops. Cropland covers 85% of farmland, and 14% is irrigated.

Crop or livestock	2022
Corn for grain	199,861 acres
Soybeans	195,171 acres
Forage (hay and haylage)	18,092 acres
Wheat	5,197 acres
Hogs	37,254 head
Cattle	33,769 head

Corn and soybeans split the county almost evenly, so drone spraying in Gage County is mostly July and August fungicide and insect work.

Wymore soils, terraces and waterways

Much of the upland in Gage County is Wymore silty clay loam, formed in loess over a dense clay subsoil that takes water slowly. Fields are terraced, cut by grassed waterways and stay wet after rain.

Field condition	Ground sprayer	Spray drone
Wet claypan after rain	Ruts, stuck rigs	No soil contact
Terraces and waterways	Boom bounce, missed strips	Follows terrain
Corn at tassel	Crop damage	Flies above the canopy
Soybeans at R3	Wheel-track losses	No crop contact

Southern rust and tar spot in corn

UNL CropWatch reported record southern rust severity in eastern Nebraska in 2025, and tar spot is spreading across the state. Gray leaf spot, northern corn leaf blight and bacterial leaf streak are also common. UNL guidance:

• Fungicide pays most often at VT/R1 through R3, and at R4 only under heavy pressure.
• Fungicide at R5 is not recommended.
• Protection lasts about three weeks, so a second pass, when needed, goes about 21 days after the first.

Soybean gall midge and stink bugs

Soybean gall midge was confirmed in Gage County in 2019, and field edges next to last year's soybean ground take the most damage. Southern Nebraska fields also see Dectes stem borer, frogeye leaf spot and brown spot. UNL sets the stink bug threshold at 40 per 100 sweeps in commercial soybeans while pods are green, and 20 per 100 for seed beans. Japanese beetles feed from late June into September. A drone can treat just the edge rows, where gall midge and beetles concentrate.

Herbicide-resistant weeds

Nebraska waterhemp has resistance to triazine, HPPD, ALS, 2,4-D and glyphosate, and Palmer amaranth, marestail and kochia carry multiple resistance as well. Layered residuals are the base program. Drones fill in with rescue passes when rain keeps ground rigs out past label height limits.

Pasture and hay ground

Gage County still carries about 45,500 acres of pasture and 18,000 acres of hay. Musk and plumeless thistle are on Nebraska's noxious weed list, and landowners are required to control them; rosettes are sprayed in fall or early spring, before they bolt. Sericea lespedeza moves north from Kansas along the state line and is treated in summer while it grows actively. Drones spot-treat patches in steep draws and along creeks where a pickup sprayer can't go.

A Gage County spray season

Window	Typical drone work
April to May	Musk thistle and pasture weeds
June	Post-emerge herbicide, rescue passes
Mid-July to early August	Corn fungicide at VT–R2, gall midge edge passes
August	Soybean fungicide at R3, stink bugs, second rust pass
Late August to September	Cereal rye flown into standing corn and soybeans

The Big Blue, Homestead and the Kansas line

The Big Blue River runs through the middle of the county past Beatrice, Homestead National Historical Park sits just west of town, and Rockford Lake lies to the southeast. The county's south line is the Kansas border. Operators map streams, ponds, homes and gardens as no-spray zones, use coarse droplets on downwind edges and check FieldWatch's DriftWatch and BeeCheck before every job.

Nebraska licensing for drone application

The Nebraska Department of Agriculture (NDA) treats drone spraying as aerial application. Commercial operators need General Standards plus Category 12, Aerial Pest Control, and a Nebraska Aerial Pesticide Business License. Category 12 can't be added to a private license. The FAA requires Part 107, Part 137 and a Section 44807 exemption for drones of 55 pounds or more.