Drones are transforming the ways that farmers do their work as producers look to them for everything from field mapping to the future potential for pesticide application. At EMILI’s Innovation Farms powered by AgExpert, drone technology is being tested at scale to prove its return on investment in prairie agriculture.
On a clear, calm day at EMILI’s Innovation Farms, a drone flies over a neighbouring field. That’s EMILI’s DJI Matrice 300 RTK, a commercial drone equipped with a Micasense RedEdge-P camera, which is a multispectral and RGB sensor that is made specifically for vegetation mapping. The drone collects data from wavelengths of light invisible to the human eye. When applied to the machine learning algorithms being developed at EMILI’s Innovation Farms, this data powers technology to inform decision-making that could potentially increase crop yields, expedite crop breeding, and optimize input application.
“We also fly our DJI Mini 4 Pro drone for scouting purposes on Innovation Farms to get a bird’s eye view of fields and trial results. Visuals are very important in differentiating results and outcomes of our projects,” said Leanne Koroscil, Innovation Farms manager with EMILI.
EMILI staff fly a DJI Mini 4 Pro drone for scouting purposes on Innovation Farms. (Photo credit: EMILI)
During the 2025 season, EMILI conducted 30 drone flights over 8 fields, using the DJI Matrice 300 RTK as part of several projects, including:
- determining growth stages and health of several crops for Agi3’s Crop Sentry System;
- comparing areas where Redekop Manufacturing’s Seed Control Unit was used with areas where it wasn’t to validate the weed seed destruction technology;
- collecting images of different pea varieties for the National Research Council of Canada and the University of Winnipeg’s machine learning algorithm project.
EMILI’s work at Innovation Farms showcases how valuable drones can be in agriculture.
“Drones offer flexibility, whether that be for imaging fields or to spray products more sustainably and in trickier areas,” said Koroscil. “Drones also empower farmers to make more informed management decisions by adding them as a tool to their toolkit.”
A demonstration of EMILI’s DJI Matrice 300 on Innovation Farms during EMILI’s Twilight Tour (Photo credit: EMILI)
Different types of drones have different regulations. While microdrones – those under 250 grams – don’t currently have an associated pilot certification, drones over 250 grams require certification from Transport Canada. Drones used for spraying are subject to additional regulations by Health Canada.
Corteva Agriscience is conducting spray drone trials on EMILI’s Innovation Farms to collect data that may enable two fungicides and one herbicide product to be eligible for spray drone application. Dr. Kevin Falk, a research scientist with Corteva Agriscience, is developing a research methodology for using spray drones for small plot trials, and assessing how well Corteva crop health products perform when applied by drones compared to conventional methods such as tractor-mounted sprayers.
Corteva Field Modernization Scientist Kevin Falk prepares a fungicide application as part of a spray drone trial in a pea field on Innovation Farms (Photo credit: EMILI)
Falk, along with Erika Carrasco, emerging technology lawyer at MLT Aikins, spoke to an audience at Agriculture Enlightened and again during EMILI’s MbTech Week webinar, The Lowdown on Spray Drones and Emerging Agtech Regulations. Falk explained that there are a variety of use cases for spray drones.
“The different use cases for looking at range and pasture land where you can’t get a regular [sprayer] in there, or if your field’s too wet and you can’t spray, or if you don’t want to trample or have an oddly shaped field that you need to spray. It may not be the best fit for large, quarter-section fields, but continued advances in technology could make those applications routine,” said Falk.
“There’s definitely some great use cases and with the technological change that’s happening, it’s not a matter of if, it’s a matter of when.”
North Valley Precision Planting demonstrates its DJI T100 spray drone to federal, provincial and territorial ministers of agriculture during a tour of EMILI’s Innovation Farms (Photo credit: EMILI)
Throughout March 2026, Health Canada’s Pest Management Regulatory Agency has been gathering input on a regulatory proposal that would allow drones to apply pesticides that are already approved for conventional aerial application by aircraft, without needing new label amendments.
While spray drone regulations in Canada may change and allow more innovation to be developed, tested and validated for Canadian agriculture, Carrasco said that this will still require operators to comply with all Transport Canada regulations, including for operator licensing, approval of the aircraft, and approval of the type of operations, among other things. Failure to comply with each of these parts will bring with it separate fines and liability.
Carrasco added that, spray drones aside, it’s important to remember that drones have already been proven to be an effective agricultural tool in many other aspects.
“It’s incredible what can be done … to make agriculture more efficient, more innovative, just by using drones to capture data that would normally take days or hours to capture,” she said. “[Using drones for tasks] like perimeter surveillance, surveying, thermal scanning …[is] a massive innovation for agriculture.”
A DJI Agras T50 and DJI Matrice drone on display during a tour at Innovation Farms (Photo credit: EMILI)
Visit EMILI’s Innovation Farms to learn more. EMILI hosts field tours and demonstrations on Innovation Farms throughout the season to showcase new agricultural technology, expand innovation opportunities, and increase understanding and adoption of digital tools.