Drone Spraying in Green County, WI for Corn, Soybeans and Alfalfa

Drone spraying rates in Green County

Drone spraying in Green County, WI is billed per acre, per pass, application only. Wisconsin drone rates run $11–22 per acre with $16 typical for 2026, a Rock County dairy paid $18 on wet ground in 2025, and Midwest custom rates have dropped from $22–25 in 2023 to $15–18. Our rates:

Service	Typical rate	Notes
Corn fungicide	from $15/acre	Tar spot at VT
Soybean fungicide and insecticide	from $15/acre	White mold, aphids
Alfalfa insecticide	from $15/acre	Weevil, potato leafhopper
Post-emerge herbicide	from $14/acre	Rescue passes
Cover crop seeding	from $15/acre	Seed billed separately

Each visit has a $300 minimum. Many small, scattered fields can be billed by the hour instead. Product is billed separately.

Dairy behind the cheese

Green County is known for Swiss-style cheese from Monroe and New Glarus, and the county has had about a dozen cheese factories. Milk brought in $169.4 million in the 2022 Census of Agriculture, and the county ranks fourth in Wisconsin for total cropland.

Crop or livestock	2022
Corn for grain	80,926 acres
Soybeans	60,618 acres
Forage (hay and haylage)	45,864 acres
Corn silage	9,624 acres
Wheat	5,712 acres
Cattle	69,849 head

Cropland covers about 82% of farmland. Drone spraying in Green County protects the corn, beans and alfalfa that feed the county's dairies and cheese plants.

Tar spot was found here first

A Green County corn sample collected on September 12, 2016 was among Wisconsin's first confirmed tar spot cases, alongside Iowa, Grant and Lafayette counties, and bad fields have lost 30–40 bushels per acre. UW trials found a single VT application performed well in most years, while the 2021 epidemic needed two passes timed with the Tarspotter app. Mixed-mode products were the most consistent. A drone flies over tasseling corn when a ground rig would knock it down.

White mold in soybeans

White mold favors cool, wet weather and a closed canopy at flowering. Fields with a history of white mold are usually treated from R1 to R3, and UW's Sporecaster app helps decide whether the risk justifies a pass. DATCP surveys have also found Phytophthora root rot in Green County soybeans, which is managed with seed treatments and varieties rather than sprays.

Alfalfa weevil and potato leafhopper

UW starts alfalfa weevil scouting at 300 growing degree days (base 48°F). Treat first-crop alfalfa at 40% tip feeding when harvest is more than 7 days away, and regrowth at 50%. For potato leafhopper, UW thresholds rise with plant height:

Alfalfa height	Leafhoppers per sweep
3 inches	0.2
6 inches	0.5
8–11 inches	1.0
12 inches and up	2.0

Use 100 sweeps per field. Leafhopper treatments rarely pay after Labor Day.

Driftless hills and glaciated ground

Green County sits partly in the Driftless Area and partly on glaciated ground, with silt loam soils over dolomite and sandstone. The Sugar and Pecatonica rivers drain the county south toward Illinois.

Field condition	Ground sprayer	Spray drone
Rolling hills and contour strips	Rollover risk, constant turns	Follows terrain
Wet bottoms along the Sugar River	Ruts	No soil contact
Tall corn at tassel	Crop damage	Flies above the canopy
Small fields between woods	Missed corners	Mapped edges

Cover crops after silage

About 12% of Green County farms already plant cover crops, and 30% use no-till. Drones seed cereal rye or a cover mix right after silage is chopped, or into standing soybeans in late August and September, so roots hold soil through fall rains and the field is ready for spring forage.

A Green County spray season

Window	Typical drone work
Mid-May to early June	Alfalfa weevil before first cutting
June	Post-emerge herbicide, rescue passes
Late June to August	Potato leafhopper on regrowth
Mid-July to early August	Corn fungicide at VT, soybean fungicide at R1–R3
Late August to September	Cover crops after silage or into beans

Neighbors, bees and the Illinois line

Green County borders Stephenson and Winnebago counties in Illinois, and fields near Monroe, New Glarus and Brodhead sit close to homes and small acreages. Wisconsin is a FieldWatch partner, so operators check DriftWatch and BeeCheck before every job, map streams, wells and homes as no-spray zones and use coarse droplets on downwind edges. Monroe Municipal and the Brodhead airfield are both checked for airspace before flights nearby.

Wisconsin licensing for drone application

The Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection (DATCP) requires a base category such as Field and Vegetable Crops plus the aerial application category, an annual commercial applicator license and a Pesticide Business License. The FAA requires Part 107, Part 137 and a Section 44807 exemption for drones over 55 pounds.