Regulations for use of drone aircraft “are significantly lagging the pace of innovation,” says a Brookings Institution blog post. The writers point to reports of misuse of drones, from smuggling drugs to interfering with firefighters, and say that “we are living in the proverbial wild West.” But the technology could be a boon for consumers and businesses, they say, citing experiments such as delivery of medicine to a rural medical facility in Virginia. “State and local governments need to engage on this policy issue more proactively …. And this balancing has to take place in an environment where federal law remains unsettled too,” write David Swindell and Kevin Desouza of Arizona State U, and Sabrina Glimcher, an aviation-finance attorney.
Agriculture is one of the sectors where drones could play an immediate role in crop scouting, applying pesticides, aerial surveying, monitoring irrigation equipment or livestock on pasture.
It could be late 2016 or early 2017 before the FAA completes work on rules allowing wider use of the craft, says DTN, citing a report from the Government Accountability Office. In the meantime, companies must apply for exemptions to fly drones commercially in agriculture. DTN quotes the report as saying, “Unlike in the United States, countries GAO examined — Australia, Canada, France, and the United Kingdom — have well-established UAS [unmanned aerial systems] regulations. Also, Canada and France currently allow more commercial operations than the United States.”