'Exponential' demand for drones on Australian farms, says innovator

He said compared to a few years ago, drones were becoming "commonplace" with multiple uses in agriculture.

"A few years ago, you'd talk about drones and people would raise their eyebrows, and they'd be unsure about this tech," he said.

"Now every second person is looking for them."

Mr Barraclough was founder of drone company 'Drone-Hand' and spoke to Stock & Land at the recent Future Ag Expo at the Melbourne Showgrounds.

He reported an uptick in demand for drones from all types of farmers with interest in drone technology quickly building.

"Autonomy in general, whether it's drones or other forms of robotics, really has a feature in agriculture, not just in Australia but around the world," he said.

"For us to be able to maximise the use of our land to provide food security, when we're chasing challenges of climate and social stuff around the world, to use drones to increase efficiency is a no-brainer."

Mr Barraclough said there were animal welfare and labour saving benefits to drone use.

"We're seeing more and more desire from farmers to produce better animals, healthier animals with better quality of life," he said.

"If we can use drones that are not going to disturb the animals, they're flying at about 100m and the animals can't hear them.

"We're able to not only just see them from a bird's eye view but we're also allowing them to live healthier lives and reduce mortality rates."

He said using a drone could reduce a farmer's staffing costs and staffing times.

"You can actually direct your staff to go right to the jobs that need doing as opposed to spending hours driving around looking for the job that needs doing.

"That's a huge cost and time saver."

The drone company boss said interest was coming from small to very large farms and that it wasn't just younger farmers keen to purchase.

"In Australia, our farming population is an ageing population," he said.

"We're getting plenty of older people who are interested in using drones because they're seeing it as a way to keep them on their land longer and to get around issues with staffing and time."

Mr Barraclough said using drones to monitor and check livestock was also a means of saving fuel and cutting emissions.

"Yutes in Australia contribute 170,000 tonnes of carbon every year," he said.

"If we can reduce two to three hours every day of driving, that's a significant reduction in emissions.

"We have to be considering this in all of our actions and decisions going forward.

"It may not be the initial driving factor for getting a drone but if you can have all those auxiliary benefits of reducing emissions, then that's a good thing."

On what a new drone may cost a farmer, Mr Barraclough said it depended on the operation.

"It all comes down to the size of your property but let's say an average property of between 5000-10,000 acres, you'd be looking at a drone and batteries cost of under $6000," he said.

"Depending on the programming you're using, you'd probably want to add on another couple of thousand a year for subscription costs.

"You're still under $10,000 all told for something you're going to use for multiple applications in farming."

He said the potential for agri tech in Australia was huge.

"[Farmers] are looking for solutions to increase their yields and increase the well-being of both their animals and staff, to try new methods to make life more cost effective," he said.

"It produces a lot of opportunities.

"[Drones are] another tool in the box and it's about how we can utilise that tool in as many ways as possible to increase efficiency for farming."