In this episode of The DroneOn Show, Mike sits with Juany Mattson of Vortex Advantage Ag at a drone convention in Alabama. A former Napa Valley winery co-founder, Juany, 54, swapped $300 Cabernet for spraying 20,000-acre Texas ranches. With a viral trailer layout on YouTube, he’s building a one-stop drone shop, tackling prickly pear and rugged terrain.

• (00:00:00) - Drone On The Air
• (00:00:24) - How Drone Spray Is Made for Ag
• (00:02:27) - Flying a drone for the first time
• (00:03:19) - How To Build A Stealth Trailer In Texas
• (00:07:49) - Do You Need A Generator For Your Drone?
• (00:12:04) - Two Drones on the Farm
• (00:13:22) - Flying a Drone is like a Semi-Retirement Plan
• (00:17:37) - Farm Equipment Guys on Selling Drones
• (00:19:34) - John Deere Guy on Hard Work
• (00:22:18) - Drones for Agriculture: Starting a Business
• (00:23:12) - Riding a Trailer Trailer
• (00:24:42) - Flying a Drone on a Truck
• (00:29:05) - Drones on the Top of Your Trailer

In episode 17 of The DroneOn Show, Mike and Kevin tackle DJI bans, battery management, and the grind of securing the first thousand acres as a newbie. They dive into Whitetail Research with thermal drones, T100 drone potential, and overcoming startup hurdles like confidence-building and field mishaps. Great advice for aspiring drone entrepreneurs!

• (00:00:00) - Dji Band
• (00:30:51) - Do Federal Drone Laws Apply to Firefighting?
• (00:51:15) - What sets a Drone Pilot apart from the rest?
• (01:09:46) - Drone Deployment During Hurricane Florence

In this episode of The DroneOn Show, Mike, his wife Karen, and Kevin share the gritty reality of launching a drone business while balancing married life. Mike and Kevin dive into their hands-on experience with the new DJI T100, a titan drone revolutionizing aerial spraying. They discuss their spraying experience in Kentucky. From outpacing plane crop dusters to integrating drones into ag businesses, they reveal hard-won insights for aspiring drone entrepreneurs.

• (00:00:00) - Marriage and Drones
• (00:00:46) - How Much Has Happened Since We Talked On The Podcast
• (00:01:21) - Kevin on My Birthday
• (00:01:32) - DJI T100 Announced
• (00:05:17) - What are the most important things to keep a business together?
• (00:09:56) - Seasonality in Hunting and Farming
• (00:12:29) - How To Talk To Your Partner
• (00:16:53) - Married Entrepreneurs: How To Start a Business With a Partner
• (00:20:17) - The Secret to A Good Couple
• (00:20:39) - Jonah on His Wedding Plans
• (00:23:42) - Farmers Talk About Their Dreams
• (00:28:57) - The Yoda Homestead Teaches How to Grow Food on YouTube
• (00:33:36) - In the Elevator With Tourist
• (00:34:21) - In the Elevator With Elon Musk
• (00:35:27) - How many businesses did you try before becoming successful?
• (00:36:47) - Drones for Cotton: The Future
• (00:41:38) - Drones vs. Planes: Should You Buy a Drone?
• (00:44:57) - Crop Dusting Pilots on Drone Pilot Wars
• (00:49:05) - How to Scale Up Your Drone Operations with a 50,000 Ac
• (00:53:08) - Drones Are Essential For Chemical Applications
• (00:57:59) - Farmers Talk About Spaying Weedkiller

In this episode of The DroneOn Show, Austin joins Jaden and Ryan at Deadwood Outfitters, where Chazak Rescue trains cadets in drone-powered search and rescue. From thermal imaging to locate survivors to dropping payloads in remote Idaho, they push drones to the limit—crashing one in a tree during a 2.3-mile test! Inspired by hurricane response in North Carolina, Chazak’s drone program, backed by donated gear, equips teams for disaster aid. Raw tips for drone-powered lifesaving missions!

• (00:00:00) - Drone On-Air
• (00:00:31) - In the Elevator With Drone Guys
• (00:00:55) - Kazakh Rescue Training in Deadwood
• (00:05:11) - What's Kazakh?
• (00:07:12) - His Associate in Business degree is currently not accredited
• (00:08:08) - Where does the funding for Disaster Rescues come from?
• (00:10:48) - How many cadets are out here training?
• (00:13:09) - Deer Hunting on New Way Ag
• (00:14:23) - Kazakhstan Search and Rescue Drone Program
• (00:23:59) - Teaching Thermal Drone Training
• (00:29:03) - How To Survive On A Remote Drone
• (00:33:53) - A rescue mission with a drone
• (00:35:06) - Drones for the Future
• (00:36:43) - Drone Rescued from a tree

In this episode of The DroneOn Show, Mike rides along with Brent and son Griffin in Kansas, where they spray over 100,000 acres yearly with ground rigs. Testing drones on terraced fields, they hit 2,500 acres in three weeks, aiming for 600 acres daily. From T60 battery tweaks to terrain-following tech for tree rows, Brent hands the drone reins to Griffin, a young pilot eyeing a fleet. Gritty insights for ag drone pioneers!

• (00:00:00) - Drone on the Road
• (00:00:26) - Drone Spreading
• (00:00:39) - Are Drones the Future of Wheat?
• (00:03:30) - Drones on a farm in the Ozarks
• (00:07:27) - Drones on the farm
• (00:09:52) - Dad: I Want My Son to Get Ready to Fly
• (00:11:52) - Do drones help with weed control?
• (00:13:34) - Do drones work on Kansas crops?
• (00:17:34) - Farmers at the CRP Demonstration
• (00:19:05) - T60X Battery Problems
• (00:20:14) - Farm Guy Gets Down to Flying Drones
• (00:21:31) - Flying Planes Is a Possibility
• (00:22:05) - Drones on the job
• (00:23:03) - Drones for crop spraying
• (00:26:41) - Drones for night spraying
• (00:27:22) - Drones vs. Ground Drills
• (00:28:32) - Bonding With Kids

In this episode of The DroneOn Show, Mike sits with James Harris of Southern Crop Services at a drone convention. A corporate pilot who soloed at 16, James swapped cockpits for drones, spraying 70,000 acres on a 500,000-acre Florida ranch, including a 34,000-acre pasture job in a month. Starting with their first Unimog rig that sparked viral buzz, he tackles rugged terrain and FAA training hurdles, sharing gritty lessons for ag drone grinders.

• (00:00:00) - Drone On The Air
• (00:00:26) - James Harris on Drones and Growing Businesses
• (00:01:16) - Drone Spray: 80,000 Acres
• (00:03:15) - How a Drone Pilot Helped With Landscaping
• (00:05:49) - Flying When You Were Younger
• (00:07:15) - Farmers Get into Drone Farming
• (00:11:03) - Drones on a Florida cattle ranch
• (00:13:49) - Working on a 500,000-acre ranch--
• (00:17:44) - Flying a drone on a crop dusting crew
• (00:19:32) - Do You Think Drones Will Be Obsolete on Farms?
• (00:23:15) - Do you think it's Too Late to Get into Drone App Business
• (00:24:30) - How many drones do you have in your fleet?
• (00:25:32) - How to Build an Obstacle
• (00:28:46) - Flying Unmanned Drone
• (00:29:11) - Do drones help with aquatics?
• (00:32:28) - How to Get Your Drone Pilot License
• (00:36:01) - Flying a Drone With a CFI
• (00:38:37) - Drone spraying on corn
• (00:40:53) - Do drones shrink the crop spraying business?
• (00:44:21) - How to grow a crop
• (00:45:33) - Diesel Generator
• (00:47:35) - PODCAST: How to Win an MMA Match

In this episode of The DroneOn Show, Mike sits down with Jesse Bailey of South Alabama Drone Services at a drone convention. A multi-generational farmer sidelined by a back injury, Jesse turned to drones, spraying 9,000 acres in year one and scaling to 30,000 with two pilots. From fine-tuning 32-foot swaths for peanuts to nailing 500-acre herbicide jobs within a tenth of a pound, he shares hard-earned tips on avoiding striping and handling chemicals safely as a cancer survivor. A must for ag drone hustlers!

• (00:00:00) - Drone On The Air
• (00:00:26) - Reveal: Fake Agri-Spray Drone Sales
• (00:03:25) - Peanut Farmers Fly Their Own Drone
• (00:05:45) - How to Pass the Drone Registration Test
• (00:07:47) - How to start a drone business in the Rocky Mountains
• (00:11:02) - How To Apply Fertilizer on a Cornfield
• (00:13:33) - Farmers: How To Apply Fungicide accurately
• (00:17:41) - Farmers talk about mildew
• (00:21:34) - Drones vs Ground Rig:
• (00:25:28) - More Gallons an Acre
• (00:28:46) - Do You Need A High Pressure Spray Atomizer?
• (00:30:42) - How to spray herbicides from a trailer
• (00:34:17) - Auto-route boundary
• (00:37:29) - Chemical Labeling: Do You Need It?
• (00:38:58) - Chemical Prices per Acre
• (00:42:29) - Chemical Guys: Glyphosate turns into jello
• (00:45:12) - Farmers: How To Do Herbicide Coverage
• (00:48:58) - How to Get 2,000 Acres Done in 2 Days
• (00:51:36) - Are You Ready to Pick Up Drone Acres?
• (00:52:48) - Farmers Fly Their Own Drones
• (00:56:39) - Forestry Applicators: Would Love to Learn the Drone
• (01:00:08) - DJI drones: Should You Need FpV?
• (01:03:07) - Drones on the Road
• (01:05:57) - No Geo-Fencing on Drones
• (01:10:52) - How To Weed With Rye Grass
• (01:13:18) - Drones spray with glyphosate

In Episode 11 of The DroneOn Show, Mike and Kevin share their mind-blowing trip to China’s biggest UAV expo in Shenzhen, home to 70% of global consumer drones. From power-washing skyscrapers to fire-suppression drones, China’s cutting-edge applications soar with government incentives for farmers, outpacing U.S. progress stalled by FAA’s 3-6 month delays and tariff chaos. They dream up a future with robotic arms swapping heavy drone batteries to ease 35-pound pack struggles, offering gritty insights for ag innovators. #DroneOnShow #AgDrones #DroneBusiness #NuWayAg

• (00:00:00) - Drone on Air: China and the FAA
• (00:02:16) - DJI T60X Drone Sales
• (00:04:45) - Guys Go to China
• (00:06:04) - UAVs in China
• (00:09:59) - Flying drones without FAA regulations
• (00:14:06) - DJI's focus on drone components in China
• (00:19:47) - Unproven Drones for Forest Fire Suppression
• (00:24:51) - Fire trucks with drones on top
• (00:28:26) - Visit China to See Their Drone Industry
• (00:32:35) - Vietnam is crazy about cell phones
• (00:36:20) - Foreigners Talk About Their Culture In America
• (00:39:34) - Does American Culture Compare to China's?
• (00:42:59) - Austin On The Hospitality In China
• (00:46:15) - Flying Through DJI's Global Headquarters
• (00:49:34) - Drones and the American ag market
• (00:54:39) - Farmers Concerned About DJI Drones
• (00:58:38) - Farmers talk fungicide outlook
• (00:59:19) - Do drones need a bigger battery?
• (01:03:55) - Are You Ready for Your Robot Drone?
• (01:06:39) - Are You Ready for New Way Trucks?
• (01:10:15) - In the Elevator With Elon Musk
• (01:10:52) - Drone On: Week 3