Drone Spraying in Licking County, OH for Soybeans, Corn and Hay

Drone spraying prices in Licking County

Drone spraying in Licking County, OH is billed per acre, per pass, application only. Operators listed for the county quote $13–30 per acre, and an Ohio State survey cited in 2026 put drone application at an average of $14.98. Our rates:

Service	Typical rate	Notes
Soybean and corn fungicide	from $13/acre	R3 beans, tassel corn
Rescue herbicide	from $13/acre	Where labeled for aerial use
Hay and pasture weeds	from $13/acre	Broadleaves, thistles
Cover crop seeding	from $14/acre	Rye, clover, radish
Granular fertilizer	from $15/acre	Variable rate available

Each visit has a $225 minimum. Product is billed separately. Quotes reflect field size, lakes and streams nearby, homes and the spray volume on the label.

A livestock county with small fields

Licking County had 1,532 farms on 207,389 acres in the 2022 Census of Agriculture, averaging 135 acres, with sales up 110% to $389.3 million, sixth in Ohio. Livestock brought in 72%, fourth in the state.

Crop or livestock	2022
Soybeans	58,737 acres
Corn for grain	46,096 acres
Hay and forage	20,933 acres
Wheat	5,056 acres
Hogs	53,591 head
Cattle	19,018 head

More than half of farms run under 50 acres, and only 38 top 1,000. The county also carries about 3,900 sheep, 2,200 goats and 2,200 horses. Drone spraying in Licking County covers small, odd-shaped fields, hay and pasture as well as soybeans and corn.

Intel, data centers and shrinking farmland

Nearly 1,000 acres of farmland were cleared in Jersey Township for Intel's Ohio One campus, now expected around 2030–31. Data centers are filling former cornfields around New Albany and Pataskala, where Microsoft bought about 580 acres; central Ohio holds 113 of the state's 194 data centers, and neighboring St. Albans Township has asked to ban new ones. Farms that remain sit closer to construction and new homes, so operators map buildings, yards and sites as no-spray zones and fly only with wind blowing away from them.

Buckeye Lake and phosphorus

Buckeye Lake, about 3,200 acres and built in the 1820s as a canal reservoir, averages about five feet deep in summer, and 2019 microcystin readings reached 20–32 µg/L. Ohio EPA's watershed plan covers 17,326 acres, 40.6% cropland, and aims to cut phosphorus 40% and grow cover crops from about 300 to 1,000 acres a year. Drone-seeded cover crops go into standing corn and soybeans in late summer.

The Licking River and Blackhand Gorge

The North and South Forks meet at Newark to form the Licking River, which drains about 779 square miles and runs about 40 miles to the Muskingum at Zanesville; the North Fork runs about 35 miles and the South Fork, fed by Raccoon Creek at Granville, about 30. East of Newark, the river cuts a four-mile gorge through Black Hand Sandstone at the 957-acre Blackhand Gorge State Nature Preserve. Operators map the forks, Raccoon Creek and the preserve as no-spray zones.

Earthworks, arboretum and easements

The Newark Octagon and Great Circle earthworks became part of a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2023, and the Octagon opened as a public park in 2025 after the golf club lease was bought out; the original complex once spread over about 4.5 square miles. The 1,910-acre Dawes Arboretum, founded in 1929, sits nearby, and the Licking Land Trust protects almost 2,000 acres through conservation and farm easements. All are mapped as no-spray zones, with buffers on neighboring fields.

Ohio dicamba rules in 2026

Three dicamba products are approved for over-the-top use on tolerant soybeans in 2026, with a 240-foot downwind buffer. On days from 85 to 95°F, no more than half of a county's untreated dicamba-tolerant soybean acres may be sprayed, and only certified, trained applicators may apply. Ohio's Sensitive Crop Registry, run with FieldWatch, maps beehives and specialty crop fields of half an acre or more, and crews check it before every job.

Field conditions

Field condition	Ground sprayer	Spray drone
Small, odd-shaped fields	Missed corners	Mapped edges
Rolling hay ground	Slow, rough ride	Follows terrain
Corn at tassel	Crop damage	Flies above the canopy
Fields beside new homes	Drift concerns	Mapped buffers

A Licking County spray season

Window	Typical drone work
April to May	Pasture weeds, wheat
June	Rescue herbicide in soybeans and corn
Late July to August	Corn fungicide at tassel, soybean R3
Late August to September	Cover crops into standing crops

Licensing and airspace

Drone applicators in Ohio are licensed by the Ohio Department of Agriculture (ODA), and the business holds an FAA Part 137 certificate with Part 107 pilots. Licking County Regional Airport in Heath has a 4,649-foot runway, so crews check airspace for fields nearby. OSU Extension's Newark office posts local crop updates through the season. Formed in 1808, the county covers 687 square miles and had 178,519 residents in 2020.