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SEARSBORO — Braxton Brand is an enterprising young man.
The oldest son of Cory and Heidi Brand of rural Searsboro, Braxton has started his own company, Brand Aerial, LLC.
Braxton travels around Central Iowa offering to spray fields with herbicide (used to kill unwanted plants growing in crops), fertilizer (adding nutrients to crops), insecticide (used to kill unwanted bugs in crops) and fungicide (used to kill diseases in crops) using a drone.
It all started a year ago when Braxton started making farm videos at his parent’s farm using a small drone, putting them to music and uploading them to social media.
The videos gained a following and piqued Braxton’s interest in doing more with drones. That’s when he saw others using drones in farming.
“I thought it was something that I could do,” he said.
Braxton purchased a drove — a very large drone. It stretches 12 feet across and carries a 12-gallon tank that Braxton uses to spray corn, soybeans or other crops.
Braxton’s drone is so big that he has to carry it on a specially equipped trailer that also serves as a base platform for operating the drone. He first began offering spraying services in the spring of this year.
When asked what the advantage is to using a drone verses a plane or helicopter to spray a field, Braxton said he is able to get closer to the crop, greatly increasing the accuracy of covering the field.
“When I fly close to the crops, it moves the canopy (the above ground portion of a plant or crop) around more and allows for more penetration in the soil,” he said.
In order to fly a drone outside of recreational use, Braxton had to earn his remote pilot license from the Federal Aviation Administration get several exemptions to use his drone for other operations.
For instance, he has an exemption allowing him to fly his drone at night. The legal window to fly a drone is one-half hour before sunrise and one-half hour after sunset.
Braxton believes drones are the future of agriculture.
“I believe in the upcoming years we will see drones get bigger and [we’ll see] more of them,” said Braxton.
He picks up business mostly by word-of-mouth.
Braxton said that he plans to add two more drones to his spraying operation next year and he is currently looking for pilots.
To learn more about Brand Aerial, LLC services, contact Braxton at 641-325-2294.