How much does drone spraying cost per hectare in 2027?

By Nikola Mojsa, MSc in Agricultural Engineering

The price is the same whether you apply a fungicide, insecticide, herbicide, foliar feed or desiccant. New clients get the first hectare free on a first order of at least 10 ha.

Drone spraying price per hectare for 2027

The price band is set by the total area of your order: exactly 20 ha is charged at €25/ha, and exactly 100 ha at €22/ha. So at a band boundary a larger area can end up costing less: 20 ha comes to €500, while 21 ha comes to €462.

If you work in cadastral jutro (0.5755 ha), spraying field crops costs roughly €14.40, €12.70 or €11.50 per jutro, depending on the total area.

Three worked examples: maize, sunflower and a vineyard

15 ha of maize in Kovačica

Kovačica is 22 km from Opovo, so there is no travel charge. The area falls in the up-to-20 ha band, so the bill is 15 ha × €25 = €375. If this is your first job with us, the first hectare is free, which brings the total to €350 (an average of €23.33 per hectare). For this area, have 225 to 300 litres of water ready at the field. More: drone spraying maize.

60 ha of sunflower near Novi Bečej, 3-treatment package

Novi Bečej is 82 km from Opovo. The standard travel charge would be €32 (€1 for every kilometre beyond 50 km), but packages of 50 ha or more carry no travel charge, so that line drops out. The area falls in the over 20 to 100 ha band (€22/ha).

You pay in instalments after each treatment (an average of €1,247.03 per treatment, or €20.78 per hectare). Because of the size of the job, a 30% advance is paid before we come out. More: drone spraying sunflower.

8 ha of vineyard in Sakule

We take fields under 10 ha only within 20 km of Opovo. Sakule is 14 km away, so this order qualifies. The €10/ha vineyard surcharge is added to the base price of €25/ha, so the bill is 8 ha × €35 = €280. The free hectare does not apply here, because it requires a minimum order of 10 ha.

For comparison, if a 12 ha vineyard were in Kovačica, a new client would pay €385 of the €420 total after the free-hectare discount (€35).

What the price of drone spraying includes

The price per hectare covers the drone work, travel to sites within 50 km of Opovo and expert mixing of the product at the field. You always supply the product and the water. For sites more than 50 km away, travel is charged at €1 for every kilometre beyond 50, one way, per visit.

Our agronomist Nikola comes to the field in an off-road vehicle with a trailer carrying the drone, generators, batteries and a water tank. We fill the tank together before work starts; for large areas we recommend having the water ready in IBC containers. Field crops need 15 to 20 litres of water per hectare.

The choice of product and dose is yours alone, made with your agronomist or advisory service. We need passable access to the field and a few square metres for landing. After the job you get a precise report from the app, and payment is in cash.

Season packages: 5% or 10% off

If you order several treatments on the same field during a season, we give a discount: 5% for 3 treatments and 10% for 5 or more visits. A package covers every service charged per hectare (for example herbicide, foliar feeding and fungicide).

On 15 ha of maize, three treatments with the discount cost €1,068.75 instead of €1,125 (priced for a returning client). Packages are paid after each treatment, not in advance. Clients who book a package get first priority when scheduling during critical stages of the season, and packages of 50 ha or more carry no travel charge at all, wherever the field is.

First hectare free: the rules

We don't charge new clients for the first hectare, provided the first order is at least 10 ha. The price of one hectare in your price band is deducted from the bill (€25, €22 or €20 for field crops; €35, €32 or €30 for orchards and vineyards). With a package, the deduction is made at the start, on the first treatment.

Why drone spraying prices vary

A market review in September 2026 found prices from €20 to €40 per hectare, and up to €50 for areas under a hectare. The biggest differences hide in the small print: the unit of measure, travel costs, call-out charges, advance payment and the minimum order.

Worth knowing: a cadastral jutro is 0.5755 ha. So when someone offers €20 per jutro, that actually means almost €34.75 per hectare. If you are quoted per lanac, check exactly how many hectares they count as one lanac.

You can work out every one of these items (price, surcharge, travel, discounts) yourself in our price calculator.

Drone or tractor spraying: a cost comparison

Contract spraying by tractor in Banat costs about RSD 2,000 per cadastral jutro on average. Converted to hectares, that is about €30 per hectare, against €20 to €25/ha by drone.

Add to this that a tractor in a crop whose rows have closed permanently tramples 5 to 6% of the crop. When fields lie close together, a drone covers twice as much ground in a day as a tractor.

A tractor remains the unrivalled choice only for early soil-applied herbicides straight after sowing. At every stage after the crop passes a metre in height, the drone sprays without damaging the plants and covers the whole leaf mass. The full cost comparison: drone or tractor and the cost calculation for 30 ha of maize.