Former AFL star Mitch Wallis is now selling what he described as "cutting edge" drones to farmers.
Previously a player and vice captain with the Western Bulldogs, Mr Wallis was now director of his Melbourne-based family business, Droneland.
He spoke with Stock & Land at the recent Future Ag Expo at the Melbourne Showgrounds.
At the event, Mr Wallis was marketing drones for use on farms ranging in value from $1650 to $45,000.
He said there was "definitely" increasing demand for drones amongst farmers in Victoria.
"Farmers have to take that leap of faith to dive into the drone market and I must admit it's something that is still very new," he said.
"A demonstration is a good way to show a farmer about the capabilities and we've found this the most productive way of obtaining work.
"But we're at the cutting edge of the farming industry within Victoria and we want to keep pushing that."
Mr Wallis explained how Droneland offered a "range" of services, including drones for spraying, mapping and livestock monitoring.
He said mapping drones allowed farmers to gather data from their farms, analyse it and feed it into further technology, such as that of spraying drones.
He explained how farmers were opting to use drones for specific spraying tasks.
"The biggest application we find is in hard to reach places along hills and in gullies along water where tractors and motorbikes can't reach," he said.
"We can identify weeds on hills using the mapping drone and then get the spraying drone to identify those areas and spray.
"That 's something we've found a lot of interest in."
Mr Wallis said the broadacre capabilities of spraying drones had yet to be fully explored by farmers.
"Doing missions like corn crops and spraying broad leaf, we've found a really efficient way to make sure the drone is on the ground for no longer than 40 to 50 seconds," he said.
"It's refuelled with the chemical and the battery is placed in it and it's up and flying again.
"To some of the customers, it's surprising how efficient it actually is."
Mr Wallis was selling drones which included:
- Spraying drone, AGRAS T40, which had a spraying load of 50 kilograms and was priced at $45,000.
- Mapping drones, Mavic 3 Thermal, Mavic 3 Multispectrum, and Matrice 300 RTK, which were priced between $8000 and $10,000.
- Livestock monitoring and video capture drone, Mini 4 Pro, which was priced at $1650.
Mr Wallis said there was the cost of the drone and then the fee for Droneland's services.
"From a contracting perspective, while we quote jobs on their own merit, a day rate that we're looking at is around $3000, depending on the complexities of the job," he said.
He said there had been big interest in the smaller livestock monitoring drone.
"To a lay man, who hasn't been exposed behind the sticks of a drone, it's a very good entrant level drone that explains how to use it every step of the way," he said.
"As soon as you open it, it's like an iPhone and it explains every step.
"There's definitely an ease of understanding in how to use it."
Mr Wallis gave the example of a farmer who uses the drone to go wake up cows in the morning and bring them in for milking.
"It's really cutting edge, even for cutting out labour costs," he said.
"Flying that drone, instead of doing that, you might have to pay two labourers for a couple of hours at 4am to go and get the cattle.
"Whereas the drone is doing the work of those cattle."
Mr Wallis said his biggest strategy over the next couple of years was to "get in front of farmers".
He said the company wanted to "listen to them and see what they're currently doing".
This involved looking at farmers' current programmes and how Droneland could advance their crop and cattle management.
"Drones definitely have a place in what they do," he said.
