SYDNEY, Nov. 10 (Xinhua) -- Australia's Queensland have became the first state in the country to allow farmers to spray crops from drones.
Queensland state acting Agriculture Minister Bill Byrne said amendments made to the Agricultural Chemicals Distribution Control Act 1966 last week will now allow farmers access to the most innovative aerial spraying technology available for agricultural purposes starting from Thursday onwards.
"This technology will be especially useful for chemical application in areas with limited access or difficult terrain," Byrne said in a statement on Thursday.
"This includes cropping situations as well as spraying weeds or pests where conventional ground-based technology or aerial application is unsuitable for the situation," he said.
Byrne added where conventional equipment cannot be used, spraying from a drone represented a safe and effective option.
"I believe it is important to harness new and emerging technologies where possible and make them available to our producers, to provide new and improved ways to operate," he said.
However, he said farmers using such technology must be aware of their legal obligations, including the need to comply with all label instructions when applying agricultural chemical products and ensuring they had the required licenses.
"The legislation requires that UAV (unmanned aerial vehicles) operations are only performed by pilots who are authorised by the Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) and hold qualifications that demonstrate a suitable level of chemical application competency," he said.
CASA spokesperson told Xinhua that Queensland farmers who use drones on their own property would not require license but would need to go to the organisation's website and fill out a notification form.
"However, if there were doing it on a larger scale like a business then they would require a full certificate (licence)," he said.
At the moment, the wait time for a full license to operate a drone was five months, Gibson said.
