Ag Drone Spraying in Johnston County, NC for Tobacco and Sweet Potatoes

Ag drone spraying prices in Johnston County

Ag drone spraying in Johnston County, NC is billed per acre, per pass, application only. North Carolina drone rates for row crops run about $11–26 per acre in 2026, with $16 typical, and specialty work runs $20–35. Our rates:

Service	Typical rate	Notes
Soybean and corn fungicide or insecticide	from $14/acre	R3 beans, southern rust
Herbicide	from $14/acre	Where labeled for aerial use
Sweet potato foliar insecticide	from $15/acre	Whitefly, hornworm
Tobacco fungicide	from $15/acre	Target spot program
Cover crop seeding	from $15/acre	Seed billed separately

Fields under 10 acres are billed as 10 acres. Product is billed separately. Quotes reflect field size, homes and hog or poultry barns nearby, tree lines and the spray volume on the label.

Tobacco, sweet potatoes and vegetables

Johnston County sold $300 million in farm products in the 2022 Census of Agriculture and ranked third in North Carolina for crop sales. Tobacco sales of $35.1 million ranked second in the state and third in the nation, and vegetables and sweet potatoes ranked third in the state at $58.1 million.

Crop or livestock	2022
Soybeans	49,535 acres
Vegetables	13,846 acres
Sweet potatoes	12,327 acres
Wheat	10,874 acres
Hay	8,990 acres
Hogs	143,851 head

Ag drone spraying in Johnston County covers high-value tobacco and sweet potatoes alongside soybeans, corn and wheat.

Tobacco target spot

In NC State's 2025 flue-cured trial, target spot peaked about 10 weeks after transplanting, and fungicide passes at 4, 6 and 8 weeks, starting around layby, reduced severity; an Excalia and Quadris rotation performed well. A drone can make those passes when tall tobacco or wet middles make ground work hard. Sucker control and other tobacco programs are planned with your agronomist and the label.

Sweet potato foliar pests

NC State lists the sweet potato pests that call for foliar sprays: whiteflies, which need coverage on leaf undersides; hornworms, with generations starting in early June and again in August and September; and whitefringed beetle adults in July and early August. Flea beetle and wireworm are managed with soil-applied products, not drones.

Sweet potato weevil survey

North Carolina's sweet potato weevil quarantine covers only Brunswick and New Hanover counties. In the 2024 survey, Johnston County had 1,186 traps, the third most in the state, and none of the 12,411 traps statewide caught a weevil. Shipping certification cards come from NCDA&CS.

Southern rust in corn

NC State says southern rust is mainly a threat to late-planted corn hit by tropical storms during grain fill. A fungicide pass costs about $15–20 per acre and needs roughly 10 bushels to break even, so NC State advises spraying only when more than 1–2% of leaf area is affected, not within two weeks of black layer, and not below about 100 bushels of yield potential.

Resistant weeds

NC State weed scientists have reported glyphosate-, ALS- and PPO-resistant common ragweed and waterhemp in North Carolina and suspected PPO-resistant Palmer amaranth. Layered residuals carry the program, and drones help with rescue passes on labeled products when sandy fields are too wet or crops too tall for ground rigs.

The fastest-growing county in the state

Johnston County has grown faster than any other North Carolina county over the past decade, from about 216,000 people in 2020 to an estimated 256,000 in 2025, and sits at the I-95 and I-40 crossroads. Farms around Clayton, Selma and Smithfield now border subdivisions, so operators map homes, schools, gardens and wells as no-spray zones and fly only in light wind blowing away from them.

Neuse River, Howell Woods and Bentonville

The Neuse River crosses the county, with Little River, Black Creek, Hannahs Creek and Swift Creek feeding it. Howell Woods protects more than 2,800 acres of wetlands and forest near Four Oaks, and Bentonville Battlefield is a National Historic Landmark. Operators map rivers, creeks, protected land, hog and poultry barns as no-spray zones and check DriftWatch, CropCheck and BeeCheck through NCDA&CS before every job.

Airports and air bases

Johnston Regional Airport sits northwest of Smithfield with a 5,500-foot runway and no tower, and Seymour Johnson Air Force Base lies about 24 nautical miles southeast. Operators check airspace for every field and get authorization where needed.

A Johnston County spray year

Window	Typical drone work
Mid-to-late April	Wheat scab fungicide at flowering
June to July	Tobacco target spot program, sweet potato hornworms
July to August	Sweet potato whiteflies and beetles, corn southern rust
August to September	Soybean R3 passes, second hornworm flight
October to November	Cover crops

North Carolina licensing

The North Carolina Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (NCDA&CS) licenses commercial drone applicators after the Core, Aerial Methods and a category exam; new applicators start as apprentices until they log a year and 125 hours, the business needs an Aerial Contractor license backed by Part 137, and each drone has a $25 yearly inspection. Growers spraying their own land can use a private license with the Aerial Methods exam.