Manitoba Ag Days takes flight with focus on drone tech advancements

BRANDON — Manitoba Ag Days kicked off its annual event on Tuesday with a strong spotlight on innovation as the large-scale drones showcased on the trade show floor drew plenty of attention.

The Spider-i M400 agricultural spray drone marks a shift in how producers should think about the technology, Ag Drone Canada president Travis Karle said.

Karle, who has been a pilot for 35 years, said he has spent the last four years working with manufacturers to develop a proper high-capacity, high-volume, aerial spray drone. Karle described the M400 as “by far the biggest drone in the industry,” featuring a tank capacity of up to 210 litres, three batteries and extended flight time.

“Instead of thinking of that as a drone, now we’re looking at a piece of farm equipment,” he said. “We’re 100 acres per hour-plus with that drone of that size.”

Karle said it can be adapted for several uses. “You can use it for granular, for spreading fertilizer or cover crop. It’ll lift 220 kilograms. It has three different applications — you can use it for firefighting or lifting or just as a transport drone.”

The drone is priced at around $95,000, and Karle said its affordability compared to traditional equipment is a key advantage.

“For the ag industry, the big deal is initial investment costs are really low compared to a ground rig or a plane,” he said. “Our operating costs go down by at least 80 per cent.”

Although the first units were manufactured overseas, Karle said future production will move to Saskatchewan. “We’re going to be doing all the building here (in Canada), right at Nipawin.”

Other exhibitors at 2026 Ag Days (running Tuesday through Thursday) highlighted similarly advanced — but smaller — drone options.

Flaman Agriculture specialist Todd Fraser showcased the DJI Agras T100 on Tuesday.

“It’s their newest spray drone on the market,” Fraser said. “It can do your spraying, and it also has a spreading tank for broadcasting canola seed or spreading fertilizer.”

Fraser said the drone carries a 100-L liquid tank and a 150-L spreading tank, with a working spray width of 30 to 36 feet. “In terms of capacity, you can probably do about 70 acres an hour.”

Fraser said the T100 stands out for its safety and navigation technology.

“This thing has vision sensors, radar, it has LiDAR (light detection and ranging) just for collision avoidance,” he said. “There are bigger drones out there, but they’re not where this one is in terms of technology.”

The T100 is priced at about $48,500, Fraser said.

Infrastructure supporting drone operations was also on display.

Braiden Setter-Shwaluk of Setter Manufacturing Division, based in Russell, said his company focuses on helping farmers integrate drones into everyday operations.

“We’re displaying what we can do for farmers if they buy a trailer and they want it set up as a drone trailer or just a loading system for their farmyard and sprayers,” Setter-Shwaluk said.

At the booth, Setter Manufacturing displayed the DJI T50 and T100 drones.

“The T50 is a little smaller with a 10 1/2-gallon spray tank, and the T100 is the next size up at a 24-gallon spray tank,” Setter-Shwaluk said. “That’s the biggest one we have right now.”

He said the drones use spinner-based spray systems rather than traditional nozzles, allowing operators to adjust droplet size in real time. “You can do super fine, like a fog spray, or drop it to a really big droplet size on higher wind days.”

Marcus Weber of Landview Drones said drone technology has been evolving in the agriculture sector.

“We’ve been doing this for 10 years. Drones in agriculture really aren’t that new; the use that we’re making of them is what’s new,” he said. “In the last three to four years, we’ve seen a shift from not just mapping but actually applying product.”

Weber also emphasized the equipment has many uses. “A drone a farmer would use for mapping a field can also be used for finding people when they’re lost in the bush,” he said

— Brandon Sun