Global Agriculture Drones Market to Surpass $6,244.5 Million by 2028, Owing to the Increasing Adoption of Precision Farming across the World

Agriculture drones are unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) specifically designed to optimize agriculture operational efficiency, crop growth monitoring, and crop production. The digital imaging capabilities and drone sensors of the agriculture drones are intended to offer farmers a better picture of their fields. The sudden climate changes across the globe are creating new layers of complexity in the agriculture industry, which is propelling the need for advanced solutions, such as agriculture drones to enhance crop yield. Moreover, drones help in revealing several issues and rapidly identify various problems, such as soil variation, fungal infestations, and irrigation problems.

Furthermore, drones have revolutionized the agriculture industry across the globe by offering cost-saving, enhanced efficiency, and more profitability. Though the global agriculture drones market is still in its burgeoning stage, breakthroughs in drone technology are projected to accelerate the agriculture drones market growth in the upcoming years.

COVID-19 Impact on Agriculture Drones Market

The outbreak of COVID-19 across the globe has adversely impacted the global agriculture drones market growth. This negative growth is majorly attributed to the lockdowns and financial disruptions in many countries across the globe. In addition, the non-availability of workforce and supply chain disruptions have adversely affected the market growth. The demand for agriculture tools and equipment has plummeted during the pandemic period. The expectations of farmers for employing agricultural drones have been lowered owing to a prolong dip in prices of food crop.

Presently, the need for automation and digitalization is increasing at a rapid pace in every industry including agriculture. Since the economies are returning to normalcy following the slowdown of coronavirus pandemic, the agriculture drone business is expected to gain traction. A large number of agritech companies are coming up with developed innovative farming technologies, such as drone technology for real-time decision making in several areas including yield monitoring, irrigation scheduling, field mapping, harvest management, and crop health monitoring to improve agriculture productivity. These factors will help the market to witness significant growth after the end of pandemic.

Agriculture Drones Market Trends and Developments

The companies operating in the global industry are adopting several growth strategies and business tactics such as partnerships, collaboration, business expansion, and product launches to obtain a leading position in the global industry, which is predicted to drive the global agriculture drones market growth in the upcoming years.

For instance, in September 2019, DJI, the global leader in civilian drones and aerial imaging technology, announced the launch of ‘P4 Multispectral,’ the first-ever fully incorporated multispectral imaging drone for environmental management and precision agriculture.  This new imaging drone combines data from numerous sensors to measure the health of crops as well as detect the presence of insects, weeds, and a variety of soil conditions.

In February 2021, senseFly, the world leader in fixed-wing mapping drones, announced the launch of ‘eBee Ag,’ and added to its eBee X series of drone solutions. eBee Ag is affordable and user-friendly that helps agronomists, farmers, and service providers efficiently plant health insights for quicker decision-making by capturing aerial data and thus, improve crop yields and profit potential.

In March 2021, Farmonaut, an Indian start-up offering satellite-based crop health monitoring, entered into a partnership with GarudaUAV, the leading Indian drone services company, to promote the drone-based remote sensing technologies for farming. Farmonaut, through this partnership is working towards educating the farmers in India, regarding the benefits of remote sensing technology in farming.

In June 2021, Sentera, the leading agricultural insights company, announced to have raised a $25 million Series C funding in order to accelerate the delivery of AI-powered decision support for food & agriculture. The company’s technology centers around a software platform tailored for agriculture and food namely, ‘FieldAgent,’ which integrates data from satellites, drone sensors, on-field equipment, soil, weather, and field observations.

Forecast Analysis of Global Market

The global agriculture drones market is projected to witness an exponential growth during the forecast period, owing to the rising adoption of sustainable agriculture practices and increase in investments in agricultural drones and other ancillary equipment across the globe. Conversely, the lack of standardization of protocols and communication interfaces in agriculture drones are expected to hamper the market growth in the projected timeframe.

The growing adoption of precision farming along with technological advancements in drones across the globe are the significant factors and agriculture drones market trends estimated to bolster the growth of the global market in the coming future. According to a latest report published by Research Dive, the global agriculture drones market is expected to garner $6,244.5 million during the forecast period (2021-2028). Regionally, the Asia Pacific region is estimated to observe the rapid growth by 2028, owing to the growing adoption of improved technologies in agribusiness and the growing co-operation between private and public food sectors.

The key players functioning in the global market include AgEagle Aerial Systems Inc., AeroVironment, Inc., DJI, Delair, Parrot SA, Microdrones, Precisionhawk, Sentera LLC, SenseFly, and Yamaha Motor Corporation.