So our current sprayer covers ~70ha/hr. That means we need a fleet of 18 drones to match it. That's 270k + the associated inferstructure costs. If there not fully autonomous you'll also need to pay someone $30-$40/hr to stand around an continually refill, program and move them from paddock to paddock. As well as ensure there aren't miss sprays, crashes, spray drift onto neighbour paddocks etc. However given the flight time is <20 minutes you'll need far more than 1 person for that, maybe 2 or 3.
We can hire a spray plane for $12/ha, or a contract sprayer (self propelled boom) for slightly less than that.
We can hire a spray plane for $12/ha, or a contract sprayer (self propelled boom) for slightly less than that.