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Sprayers101: Drone spraying in Canadian agriculture

In Canada, the use of drones for pesticide application, otherwise known as remote piloted aerial systems (RPAS), is regulated by two federal departments: Transport Canada establishes regulations for safe operation and Health Canada for the registration and conditions of use of pest control products.

Drones are already used in Canadian agriculture for crop surveillance and livestock management, and they’re being used to apply granular fertilizers, for pollination, for frost protection and greenhouse shade management. The use of drones for general spraying was cleared by Transport Canada in July 2017.

In 2018, Health Canada stipulated that the use of RPAS for pesticide application is not allowed under the Pest Control Products Act (PCPA) without sufficient data to characterize the hazards or risks associated with this use.

At this time this was written, only three pest control products were registered for application by RPAS in Canada. These were restricted-use microbials (two granular and one liquid) intended for larval mosquito control. Their labels were expanded to include RPAS in the fall of 2022 but as of 2023 no province or territory has yet permitted their application. |READ MORE