DIY in the Sky

Safety tips for building your own drone platform.

by Katie Knapp

The tender trailer sits at the edge of a cornfield, its elevated platform just above the towering tassels. A farmer is perched on top peering down at a tiny screen between his or her thumbs with one eye and the other eye scanning across the field. This is quickly becoming a common sight in farm country as farmers start using spray drones in mass, but it's a sight that is keeping safety expert Dr. Dee Jepsen up at night.

"It's the Wild West out there," she says, pointing to a growing fleet of do-it-yourself trucks and trailers being fabricated to support drone spraying. "We have this new technology, and new technology brings new issues."

Jepsen leads the Ohio State University Agricultural Safety and Health Program. She has had a passion for helping keep farmers safe and teach the next generation how to do so since she started in the department in 1992. For the past year and a half, she has been working hard to develop a set of guidelines to help keep these pioneering farmers safe while they are using their spray drones.

She sees a lot of parallels with grain bin safety from when the farming community first adopted on-farm storage. "Industry transferred a lot of the risk to farmers without much education or thinking about changing the design for safety. As a result, there are a lot more safety issues now," she explains.

Jepsen believes collectively we can do better this time around, and has been gathering information regarding working at heights, chemical handling, and electrical safety and combining it in a way that makes sense for this new application.

"This new technology is here, and I want people to think about how to safely use it," she says, her desire as strong as a drone's downdraft. These mobile platforms serve as charging stations and chemical mixing sites, combining the risks of electronic systems and pesticide handling in a roadside workspace.

Farmers must go through extensive training to operate a drone and to apply chemicals, but there are no industry standards yet in place for how to put them together in the field. Jepsen is hoping her worker-safety approach will fill in the dangerous gaps in between because the challenges will multiply as more farmers embrace this technology.

"Will my recommendations fit everybody? Probably not, but right now we're starting from scratch. Maybe we'll never have an incident; maybe no one will ever get hurt," Jepsen says with cautious optimism, but she's not willing to take that chance.

Above. Central Iowa farmer Tim Couser and Piet Hanekom built a tender truck and platform before the 2024 spray season to fly two drones at once. Easy set-up and tear-down between fields was also a main part of their design. Dee Jepsen developed safety guidelines for trailers used to charge, fill, and launch agricultural spray drones.

Pre-flight check. By gathering feedback from farmers, fabricators, and other ag engineering and safety professionals, Jepsen suggests asking yourself a few basic—but critical—questions as you look to build or buy a drone spraying set-up for your farm.

Consider how you'll keep yourself safe on top. Does it need a partial railing and a toe board? Or do you need a harness? Is the ladder mobile or permanent?

It's also worth thinking about how you'll keep yourself protected from the sun, flying debris, and the drone itself. Use an umbrella and sufficient eye protection, and consider whether or not you need a barricade between the landing pad and the operator's station.

Ensure you'll be safe alongside the road, if necessary. Have warning signage and lights alerting passersby and wear high-vis clothing. Check to see that you're far enough away from power lines.

How will you keep yourself safe while charging the batteries and using a generator? Look into ear protection and make sure you have the correct fire extinguishers for lithium batteries (Class D), for example.

Keep yourself safe while filling the tanks as well. Take into account eye wash or hand wash stations. Make sure there's enough space to move around the drone and hoses. How will you prevent spills?

And don't forget to prevent fatigue. Get a chair if you'll need it and build in rest breaks in between charges and tank fills.

How will you safely get from point A to point B? Check that all pieces are securely attached to the trailer and everything complies with transportation regulations.

Jepsen shared her first iteration of these recommendations with farmers at last year's Farm Science Review. "A lot of people stopped and said, 'I never thought about this,'" Jepsen recalls positively. "I put more things on there than maybe what's practical, but this gives everyone a better place to start." Visit the website to find her most updated recommendations. ‡