Agriculture Drone Market Size And Trends

The global agriculture drone market size is likely to be valued at US$ 5.86 billion in 2025, reaching US$ 23.8 billion by 2032 and exhibiting a CAGR of 21.6% during the forecast period 2025-2032. The exponential increase in food demand globally has escalated the urgency to adopt efficient land utilization and resource optimization practices, enlarging the scope for the deployment of drones in agriculture and boosting the market.

Recent Market Trends

• The agriculture drone market dynamics are being governed by a shift from niche adoption to mainstream agritech integration, fueled by government incentives and a surging demand for real-time farm intelligence.
• While China still dominates drone manufacturing, India is also fostering home-grown drone innovation with platforms such as Garuda Aerospace and AVPL, making precision spraying services accessible to smallholder farmers via drone-as-a-service (DaaS) models.
• Smart agriculture drones equipped with machine learning and hyperspectral imaging are now detecting diseases such as anthracnose and cucumber blight with up to 95% accuracy.
• New market entrants are combining the aerial reach of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) with the ground-level persistence of autonomous rovers, creating dual-function units for weed removal, nutrient spraying, and soil health tracking in a single integrated system.
• Fixed-wing agri-drones and unmanned helicopters such as Pyka’s Pelican Spray are unlocking high-volume spraying capabilities across large farms, especially in the U.S. and Brazil.

Agriculture Drone Market in the News

• July 2025: Garuda Aerospace, a Chennai-based drone startup, obtained an export license that enables it to enter key international markets, including the USA, Australia, and the Middle East. The company plans to focus its exports primarily on the Garuda Kisan Drone, designed to meet agricultural sector demands, while also addressing high-security and surveillance needs in the Middle East. This milestone marks a significant step in Garuda's ambition to become a leading global drone exporter and reflects its commitment to the Indian government’s "Make in India" initiative to promote indigenous innovation and manufacturing.
• July 2025: AgEagle Aerial Systems Inc. partnered with Atvos Agroindustrial S.A., one of Brazil's largest producers of sugarcane-based ethanol, sugar, and renewable energy, to deploy five advanced eBee X drones equipped with MicaSense S.O.D.A. 3D mapping cameras for precision agriculture across Atvos' 1.2 million acres of sugarcane. This collaboration focuses on two key applications of crop failure analysis and targeted weed control. The drones conduct high-resolution aerial surveys 60 to 90 days after planting to identify planting gaps larger than 50 cm, generating failure index reports that help improve mechanized operation efficiency.
• July 2025: DJI launched three new agricultural drones globally, the Agras T100, T70P, and T25P, each tailored for different farming scales with advanced automation, safety, and payload capacities. All three models are engineered for automated mapping and spraying, terrain-follow capabilities for uneven fields, quick return-to-home using RTK accuracy, and weather resilience. These drones represent DJI's strategic push to accelerate the advancement of agricultural automation globally by catering to various farm sizes with new levels of safety, precision, and payload efficiency.

Segment Analysis

Rotary-wing drones dominate the agriculture drone market in the product segment with a revenue share of around 62%, owing to their maneuverability, vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) capability, and precision in low-altitude operations. Well suited for fragmented farmland, orchards, paddy fields, and greenhouse environments, rotary drones are used extensively for crop scouting, spot spraying, and variable-rate application, making them a centrepiece in precision farming across smallholder settings. Major manufacturers such as DJI, XAG, and Parrot are expanding their agri-drone portfolios with longer flight times and heavier payload capacities to meet the growing demand for these UAVs. Government subsidies extended through initiatives such as India’s PM-Kisan have further catalyzed adoption by offering up to 60% financial support for crop-spraying drones.

Field mapping and crop monitoring has emerged as the largest application segment, accounting for 34.5% of the market, driven by agriculture UAVs equipped with RGB, thermal, and multispectral imaging sensors. These systems enable real-time data capture on plant health, soil variability, and pest pressure, with tools such as normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) analysis providing early warning of stress and disease.

Regional Analysis

North America is expected to retain its lead in the agriculture drone market share through 2025, capturing nearly 35% of the global revenue on the back of active adoption of precision farming technologies, favorable FAA regulations, and strong institutional backing from agencies such as the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). Farms across the region are increasingly integrating.

GPS-enabled drones and advanced imaging systems for real-time field mapping, crop health monitoring, and irrigation optimization. Moreover, the advent of AI-driven analytics and drone-as-a-service models is allowing small and mid-sized farms to adopt agricultural UAV technologies without heavy capital outlays. In Europe, the agriculture drone market is gaining traction, propelled by sustainability mandates under the EU Green Deal and Common Agricultural Policy. Asia Pacific is emerging as the fastest-growing market on account of the large-scale public investments in drone mechanization programs such as India’s Sub-Mission on Agricultural Mechanization and China’s support for UAVs in staple crop production.

Industry Players

The global agriculture drone market landscape is intensely competitive, with established drone manufacturers going head-to-head with fast-growing regional innovators. Industry giants such as DJI, Parrot SA, AeroVironment, Yamaha Motor, and PrecisionHawk are at the forefront with their advanced drone systems tailored for a wide spectrum of agricultural operations across Asia and North America. DJI continues to shape market trends with its expansive agriculture drone portfolio, while players such as XAG in China and Garuda Aerospace in India are scaling rapidly by leveraging public-private partnerships, government subsidies, and localized production to cater to smallholder farmers.