POLICY UPDATE

Chinese Spray Drones: What Changed, and What It Means for Farms and Custom Applicators

A plain-language look at the FCC rules, the new tariffs, and a pending proposal that could limit future sales of spray drones already in use.

By Avary Drone  ·  September 9, 2026  ·  Bluffdale, Utah

If you spray with a drone for a living, the last year has been hard to follow. The rules keep changing, and a lot of the coverage is written for lawyers, not operators.

Here is the simple version. You can still fly the spray drone you already own. It is getting harder and more expensive to buy the next one. New Chinese models are mostly blocked from the U.S. market. Import taxes went up again on September 3. And the FCC is considering a new rule that could stop dealers from selling more of the same drones that are already working in American fields.

•         You can still fly and maintain a DJI, XAG, or other spray drone that was already approved and that you already bought.

•         New foreign drone models generally cannot get FCC radio approval. That means the next generation of Agras, XAG, and similar drones cannot be imported or sold here.

•         New tariffs started September 3, 2026. Drones over 55 pounds, drones with thermal cameras, docking stations, and some parts are taxed at 100%. Smaller drones without those features are taxed at 25%.

•         The FCC is also considering whether to stop the import and sale of already-approved foreign drones that spray chemicals, weigh over 55 pounds, have thermal or LiDAR, or use docks. Public comments closed September 2. No final decision has been issued.

•         Government and grant jobs often already require NDAA or Blue UAS drones. Private farm work does not. The problem for private work is supply and price, not a flying ban.

Congress did not pass a law that simply says “DJI is banned.” It set a deadline.

The 2025 National Defense Authorization Act gave a national security agency one year to review DJI and Autel equipment. If no agency finished that review, the FCC had to put the equipment on its Covered List. That review was not completed in public. On December 22, 2025, the FCC added all foreign-made drones and many drone parts to the Covered List.

Being on the Covered List does not make your current drone illegal to own or fly. It stops the FCC from approving new models. Without that radio approval, a new model cannot be imported, advertised, or sold in the United States.

Older models that were already approved can still be sold if a dealer has them, but they now cost more because of tariffs. In January 2026, the Commerce Department dropped a separate plan for even tighter import rules. That helped, but it did not undo the FCC listing. DJI has asked the FCC to reconsider and has sued in federal court. Those cases are still open.

On August 13, President Trump signed an order adding tariffs on imported drones. The taxes started at 12:01 a.m. Eastern on September 3, 2026. The government says the goal is to reduce U.S. dependence on foreign drones.

What is imported	New tax
Drones over 55 pounds (25 kg) max takeoff weight	100%
Any drone with a built-in thermal camera	100%
Docking stations and listed parts	100%
Smaller drones without those features	25%
Another list of parts	25% starting February 9, 2027
Some drones from allied countries (EU, Japan, Korea, Taiwan, UK, and others)	Usually 10–15% if they meet origin rules

Some Blue UAS and other approved products got a delay until February 9, 2027. Chinese spray drones did not.

Almost every working spray drone is over 55 pounds when loaded. That puts Agras T50 and T100 class aircraft in the 100% tax group.

Drone	Published weight	Likely tax
DJI Agras T50	About 52 kg with battery; about 92 kg full for spray (203 lb)	100%
DJI Agras T100	About 75–77 kg empty; up to about 175 kg full	100%
DJI Agras T25	Smaller 20-liter tank; still usually over 55 lb when loaded	Likely 100%
Thermal inspection drones	Often under 55 lb empty	100% if thermal is built in

Weights come from manufacturer specs. The tax is based on max takeoff weight and features, not empty weight.

A 100% tariff means the import tax equals the value of the drone. It does not mean your customer’s per-acre price doubles overnight. It does mean the drone, batteries, and many parts cost a lot more when they come through customs. That extra cost shows up in the purchase price, financing, insurance, and replacement parts.

Two years ago, many T50 packages sold in the mid-teens. After earlier tariffs, street prices were already in the mid-to-high $20,000s. This new tax is another jump on top of that.

The tariffs make drones more expensive. A separate FCC proposal could make some of them hard to buy at all.

On July 21, the FCC asked for comments on a plan to stop the import and sale of already-approved foreign drones that fall into seven groups:

•         Drones that weigh 55 pounds or more at takeoff

•         Drones that spray pesticides or other farm chemicals (the FCC points to the Part 137 definition)

•         Drones with thermal cameras

•         Drones with LiDAR

•         Docking stations

•         Swarming systems

•         Drones built to carry a military item

A T50 or T100 is over 55 pounds and it sprays. Many inspection drones have thermal cameras. If this proposal becomes a final rule, dealers may not be able to import or advertise more of those models, even if they were legal to sell last year.

This would not take drones away from growers who already own them. The FCC has said people can keep using what they already bought. The issue is future sales and replacement aircraft.

Comments closed September 2, 2026. DJI told the FCC the seven groups were written by FCC staff, not by a national security agency. Most public comments opposed the plan. As of September 9, there is no final order. If the FCC adopts it, the draft pointed to a wind-down of about 180 days. That is less than one full spray season in much of the West.

More acres were sprayed. Fewer new drones were sold.

The American Spray Drone Coalition surveyed the industry after the 2025 season. Spray drones treated more than 16.4 million acres in the United States. That was up about 59% from 10.3 million acres in 2024. The FAA counted 1,710 Part 137 drone operators. The average operator still treated about 9,600 acres. So the extra acres came from more operators, not from each shop covering more ground.

New spray-drone sales dropped about 59% at the same time, from about 8,950 units in 2024 to about 3,711 in 2025. Chinese drones still made up most sales, but their share fell from about 94% to about 76%. U.S.-made drones gained share mainly because fewer Chinese drones arrived, not because American factories suddenly matched DJI on price and parts.

Custom rates also fell. The average drone application price dropped from about $21 per acre in 2024 to about $13 in 2025. An Iowa State custom-rate survey put drone work near $12.50 and airplane work near $12.00. Growers like the lower price. It is a problem for a shop that now has to replace a drone at a much higher cost.

Drones are used where planes and ground rigs struggle

Most custom drone work is not a 1,200-acre open wheat field. It is the work that is hard to do any other way:

•         Odd-shaped fields, corners, and ground under power lines and trees

•         Small or high-value blocks where a plane pass is too much, or drift is a concern

•         Pasture and low ground that will not hold a sprayer after rain or irrigation

•         Cover-crop seeding into standing corn and beans

•         Fungicide jobs when the weather window is short and every airplane is booked

If shops cannot add or replace drones, those acres do not automatically go to a cheap airplane. Some get sprayed late. Some get a ground rig and more tracks. Some do not get treated. The grower pays for that in yield and quality.

Parts and batteries matter as much as the drone

A spray drone is not a tractor you park for ten years. Arms break. Pumps wear out. Batteries are a regular expense. Radar and flight controllers fail. The Covered List covers many of those parts, not just the whole aircraft.

So even if your T50 is legal to fly, you still need parts. Software updates for already-approved drones have been allowed to continue for now, in some cases into 2029. That is not the same as being able to order a spare board or a set of batteries next week at last year’s price.

Private farm work and government work are not the same

Federal rules already keep Chinese drones out of a lot of Defense Department work, and they affect many grant and public-agency jobs. Those rules do not, by themselves, stop a farmer from hiring a Part 137 operator on a private field.

The practical problem is that shops may need two kinds of equipment. Private jobs still want the drone that can cover a lot of acres at a rate the farm will pay. Public jobs often want an NDAA or Blue UAS drone. Two platforms mean two training programs and two parts lists. A one-drone or two-drone shop will have a hard time carrying both.

1. Adding another drone will cost more

A second T50 is no longer a $20,000 purchase. After the 100% tariff, plus batteries, charger, trailer, insurance, and spare parts, it is a much larger bill. Lenders look at acres and invoices. They do not like uncertainty about whether you can replace the machine. Expect loans to be harder, and expect more shops to lease or partner instead of buying outright.

2. Used drones will get expensive, then hard to find

When new drones stop arriving, used prices go up. That is already happening. The next problem is worse. Once the used drones are sold, there may not be another wave of replacements. If you wreck your only aircraft in June, you may not find another one in July.

3. Per-acre rates will need to go up

Shops cut rates from about $21 to about $13 while new drones were still coming in. That pricing does not work if the next drone costs much more and parts are slow. Growers will not like a rate increase. The other option is shops leaving the business and acres going untreated. Talk to customers now, not in April when everyone is already booked.

4. Switching brands takes time

Moving from Agras to a U.S.-built drone is not a weekend change. The controller, spray system, maintenance, and wind limits are different. The Hylio AG-272, built in Richmond, Texas, is the U.S.-made large-tank option most people name. Quotes are often $55,000 to $75,000, with a 68-liter tank. Other companies trying to fill the gap include Revolution, Exedy, and Pyka on the fixed-wing side. Some drones from allied countries may get the lower 10–15% tariff. None of them yet have DJI’s dealer network or used-parts market in the Intermountain West.

5. Keep your paperwork together

Part 137, state pesticide licenses, exemptions, and label rules are still required. Now add FCC sale rules and tariff paperwork. Buyers and insurance companies will ask what you own and whether it can be replaced. Keep the drone log, FCC ID, import papers, and any exemption letters in one place.

1.       Do not sell a working spray drone out of panic.

If it is already approved and you own it, you can still fly it. Selling it cheap because it is Chinese does not help if the replacement cannot do the same work at a price the farm will pay.

2.       Check batteries, pumps, arms, and radar now.

If a part takes months to arrive, order it before spring. Do not wait until March.

3.       Price next season on what a replacement would cost today.

If you cannot replace the drone, do not bid acres as if you can.

4.       Watch the real dockets, not social media summaries.

The Covered List case and the “military-grade” proposal are two different fights. Either one can change what dealers can restock.

5.       If you bid government or grant work, plan for a different drone.

Private fields and public jobs may need different equipment. Treat them as two separate questions.

6.       Stay involved.

The American Spray Drone Coalition is the group speaking for this industry. Most comments on the latest FCC proposal were against it. That only helps if operators keep showing up the next time a comment period opens.

The government wants fewer Chinese drones and more American-made drones. Cutting off imports can happen fast. Building a new factory and a parts network cannot. Those two timelines do not line up with a spray season.

The United States should build more of this equipment here and with allies. Until those drones can treat the same small, tree-lined fields at a price a custom applicator can charge, growers will feel it in missed windows, and operators will feel it when they cannot replace a downed aircraft.

Avary Drone will keep selling, servicing, and training on what is legal to sell and service. We will also keep saying this plainly: the drone in your trailer is not illegal. Buying the next one just got harder, more expensive, and tied up in politics. Plan 2027 as if that stays true.

Avary Drone is a Utah enterprise and agriculture drone dealer. This is an industry briefing, not legal advice. Confirm tariff, FCC, and Part 137 questions with counsel and your FAA inspector before you buy, import, or advertise a drone.

Sources: FCC Covered List actions and PS Docket 26-189; Section 232 drone tariff proclamation effective September 3, 2026; Federal Register and major news reporting; American Spray Drone Coalition 2025 Impact Survey; manufacturer weight specs for Agras T50 and T100.