Drone Spraying in Lawrence County, TN for Soybeans, Corn and Hay

Drone spraying prices in Lawrence County

Drone spraying in Lawrence County, TN is billed per acre, per pass, application only. Tennessee drone rates run about $9–17 per acre, with $12 typical in 2026, and Iowa State's 2026 survey put the Midwest median at $12. Our rates:

Service	Typical rate	Notes
Soybean fungicide or insecticide	from $11/acre	R3 passes
Corn fungicide	from $11/acre	Tassel to early grain fill
Hay and pasture weeds	from $12/acre	Broadleaves, thistles
Wheat fungicide	from $12/acre	Flag leaf to heading
Cover crop seeding	from $13/acre	Seed billed separately

Each visit has a $200 minimum. Product is billed separately. Quotes reflect acres per trip, produce plots and streams nearby, and the spray volume on the label.

Soybeans, corn, hay and eggs

Lawrence County had 1,227 farms on 238,241 acres in the 2022 Census of Agriculture, averaging 194 acres, with sales up 42% to $101.1 million, 53% from crops.

Crop or livestock	2022
Soybeans	35,421 acres
Corn for grain	31,070 acres
Hay and forage	30,620 acres
Wheat	8,549 acres
Layers	438,897
Cattle	42,232 head

Cattle sales ranked ninth in Tennessee and poultry and eggs 11th, and the county also counted about 300,000 pullets, 1,611 horses and 1,590 goats. Drone spraying in Lawrence County covers soybeans and corn, hay and pasture, and wheat in spring.

Small farms across the county

About 31% of farms run 10–49 acres and 38% run 50–179 acres; only 38 top 1,000 acres. Many fields sit between woods, creeks and homes, so crews map each one and neighbors can share a trip. Ethridge, incorporated in 1973, had 537 residents in 2020, while Lawrenceburg had 11,633.

Ethridge Amish and the produce auction

Amish families settled in the north of the county in 1944, and the Ethridge community, Swartzentruber with well over 2,000 members, is called the largest in the South. The Plowboy Produce Auction near Ethridge has sold produce since 2006, nearly all Amish-grown, from up to 100 growers three days a week. Operators map produce plots, gardens and horse pastures as no-spray zones and fly only with wind blowing away from them.

Tennessee dicamba rules

The Tennessee Department of Agriculture's dicamba guidance sets over-the-top cutoffs of June 30 for soybeans and July 30 for cotton, requires dicamba training certificates, and carries penalties of up to $1,500 per violation per acre. With produce growers nearby, rescue passes are planned around those dates and the current federal label.

Resistant Palmer amaranth

Dicamba-resistant Palmer amaranth was confirmed in five Tennessee counties in 2020, surviving about 2.5 times the labeled rate, and some populations gave only 50–60% control with 2,4-D alone. Some growers made three or four post passes at up to $60 an acre. Treating small weeds early with mixed modes of action keeps passes down.

Buffalo River and Shoal Creek

The Buffalo River rises in northern Lawrence County and runs 125 miles as the longest unimpounded river in Middle Tennessee, and its upper reach here is a state Scenic River. Shoal Creek rises nearby and runs 64 miles to the Tennessee River in Alabama; a July 1998 flash flood of about nine inches in four hours cut off Lawrenceburg's water supply. Operators map both, their tributaries and springs as no-spray zones.

David Crockett State Park

David Crockett State Park, established in 1959 on Shoal Creek at Lawrenceburg's west edge, covers about 1,319 acres with a 40-acre lake and the site of Crockett's 1817 powder mill, grist mill and distillery, destroyed by a flood in 1821. The park is mapped as a no-spray zone.

Field conditions

Field condition	Ground sprayer	Spray drone
Corn at tassel	Crop damage	Flies above the canopy
Soybeans at R3	Wheel-track losses	No crop contact
Wet creek bottoms	Ruts	No soil contact
Fields beside produce plots	Drift concerns	Mapped buffers

Lawrenceburg and UT Extension

Created in 1817, the county covers 618 square miles and had 44,159 residents in 2020. Lawrenceburg sits at the junction of US 43 and US 64, about 80 miles southwest of Nashville, and calls itself the Crossroads of Dixie. Shoal Creek once powered the county's cotton mills. The UT Extension office on Buffalo Road runs Beef Quality Assurance and Master Beef Producer programs and a local farm directory.

A Lawrence County spray season

Window	Typical drone work
April to May	Wheat fungicide, pasture weeds
June	Rescue herbicide before the dicamba cutoff
Summer	Hay weeds between cuttings
Late July to August	Corn fungicide, soybean R3 passes
Late August to September	Cover crops into standing crops

Licensing and airspace

For-hire drone work in Tennessee needs Tennessee Department of Agriculture (TDA) Category 1 with an aerial license and decal, plus $100,000 in liability insurance, and products labeled for ground use only can't go on by drone. The business holds an FAA Part 137 certificate with Part 107 pilots. Lawrenceburg–Lawrence County Airport sits about three miles northeast of town with a 5,003-foot runway, so crews check airspace for fields nearby.