Ag Drone Spraying in Custer County, Nebraska

Ag drone spraying rates in Custer County

Ag drone spraying in Custer County, NE is billed per acre for application only; fungicide, insecticide, herbicide and seed are charged separately. Nebraska operators quote about $11–$22 per acre for one pass, with a statewide typical rate near $13. Our starting rates:

Service	Typical rate	Notes
Corn fungicide or insecticide	from $13/acre	tar spot, southern rust, western bean cutworm
Soybean fungicide or insecticide	from $13/acre	white mold, frogeye, aphids
Alfalfa insecticide between cuttings	from $13/acre	weevil, potato leafhopper
Pasture and range herbicide	from $12/acre	broadleaf weeds, musk thistle, spot brush
Cover crop and forage seeding	from $15/acre	rye, oats, turnips for fall grazing

Pricing depends on gallons per acre, total acres per trip, pivot layout and obstacles such as pivot towers, wind breaks, grain bins and power lines. Because farms here average more than 1,400 acres, the minimum job is 40 acres per visit — roughly one quarter-section pivot — and multiple pivots on the same operation are quoted as one job.

Farming in Nebraska's second-largest county

Custer County covers about 2,576 square miles in the middle of the state, and the geographic center of Nebraska lies just southwest of Broken Bow. The 2022 USDA Census of Agriculture shows how the land is used:

Item	Custer County, NE
Farms	1,083
Land in farms	1,551,863 acres
Pastureland	940,719 acres
Cropland	576,202 acres
Irrigated land	291,457 acres
Corn for grain	250,520 acres
Soybeans	122,289 acres
Cattle and calves	about 291,000 head

Center-pivot corn and soybeans fill the Middle Loup and South Loup river valleys and the tablelands, while canyon country and rangeland carry the cattle herd. That mix means drone work in Custer County splits between late-season row-crop passes and pasture weed control.

Drone spraying under center pivots

Irrigated corn reaches 9–10 feet by tassel, and a ground sprayer driving through it at that stage costs yield in tramped rows. Drones are a natural fit for pivot fields:

• Late-season fungicide. Tar spot and southern rust have both moved into central Nebraska in recent seasons. A fungicide between VT and R2 protects the ear leaf without driving the field.
• Western bean cutworm. Egg-mass scouting in July often triggers an insecticide pass right at tasseling, when only aerial application is practical.
• Pivot towers and wheel tracks. The drone flies a mapped route around the pivot and its towers, so the operator doesn't have to park the system or plan around wet wheel tracks.
• Pivot corners. Dryland or grass corners outside the circle can be treated or skipped exactly as you choose.

Many growers time a drone pass between irrigation cycles so the product dries on the leaf before the pivot comes around again.

Dryland fields and long distances

Not every Custer County field sits under a pivot. Dryland corn, soybeans and wheat on the tablelands around Merna, Anselmo and Comstock often get less attention simply because they are far from the farmstead. With a county about 54 by 48 miles, travel time matters: drone crews stage a trailer at one field and work several nearby quarters in a day, rather than hauling a self-propelled sprayer down gravel roads between them. Grouping dryland fields with nearby pivot work keeps the per-acre cost close to irrigated jobs, and timing stays tied to crop stage instead of sprayer availability.

Pasture and rangeland weed control

With more than 940,000 acres of pasture, rangeland work is a big share of agricultural drone spraying in Custer County. Typical jobs include:

1. Musk thistle and plumeless thistle, both noxious weeds in Nebraska, treated in the rosette stage in spring or fall.
2. Broadleaf weeds in improved pastures and hay meadows, applied before first cutting.
3. Spot treatment of eastern redcedar seedlings spreading into canyon grasslands, where mapping finds individual trees and the drone treats only those.
4. Leafy spurge and other patches along draws and creek banks that ground rigs cannot reach safely.

Steep loess canyons south and west of Broken Bow are where drones save the most time compared with spot-spraying from a UTV.

Custer County spray calendar

Window	Crop	Typical drone work
April–May	Pasture and range	Thistle rosettes, early broadleaf weeds
May–June	Alfalfa	Weevil control between cuttings
June	Pasture	Spot treatment of brush and spurge
July	Corn	Western bean cutworm, early fungicide
Late July–August	Corn and soybeans	Fungicide at VT–R2 and R3, aphid control
August–September	Corn and soybeans	Cover crop and forage seeding into standing crops
September–October	Pasture	Fall thistle rosette treatment

How to book a drone application

1. Send field details — pivot or field location, crop, growth stage, acres and product.
2. Get a quote — a licensed operator confirms per-acre rate and the next workable window.
3. Map the field — towers, corners, wind breaks, bins and lines are mapped before flight.
4. Apply — the drone flies an RTK route and logs rate, wind and temperature.
5. Get records — an application record and coverage map arrive the same day.

Nebraska licensing for drone applicators

For-hire drone spraying in Nebraska requires an FAA Part 107 remote pilot certificate, a Part 137 agricultural aircraft operator certificate and, for aircraft over 55 pounds, a Section 44807 exemption. The Nebraska Department of Agriculture also requires a commercial pesticide applicator license with the appropriate aerial category for application by aircraft. Every operator we connect with Custer County farms holds these credentials and carries liability insurance.