How drone developers are navigating changing regulatory landscapes to help farmers

Earlier this year, the Federal Communication Commission threw much of the robotics industry into uncertainty when it announced new limits on imports of certain robots from foreign countries. For those building and operating drones such as Hylio, this is a familiar story.

In December 2025, the FCC added foreign-made drones and U.S.-assembled drones with major foreign-made parts, to its Covered List. This list includes companies and technologies that the commission has prohibited. Arthur Erickson, the co-founder and CEO of agricultural drone developer Hylio, said the news didn’t come as a surprise for him.

Erickson launched the Richmond, Texas-based company in 2015. Even then, he saw that China had a clear advantage in the drone market. This is why he made manufacturing in the U.S. as much as possible a priority.

“There was part of me that knew that was going to be a problem,“ Erickson told The Robot Report. “Back in 2015, you had to have stuff from China, because that was the only country making it. So, within reason, we thought, ‘What could we make in house as a company?’”

If the team couldn’t build components in-house, the next best option was finding a domestic or ally manufacturer.

“That’s a core tenet of our philosophy for our supply chain, way before it was officially on any sort of legal radar or in the zeitgeist of the industry, so to speak,” Erickson said. “That means that we’re really well positioned right now. Now that it’s become a legal reality and a huge push by the U.S. government to completely make the U.S. drone supply chain domestically independent, we’re well ahead of our peers because we’ve always focused on that.”

---

---

Hylio helps farmers navigate changing drone regulations

Erickson said the current regulatory landscape is one of the biggest challenges drone producers and users are facing today. Right now, to operate a drone, a user needs to navigate a mix of federal and local regulations that could change at a moment’s notice.

“It’s not usually the case for any product or equipment that you need to do three or four different licenses first before you can use it,” Erickson said.

To navigate this, users need to have honest conversations with their technology provider, he explained.

“Make sure you have all the legal stuff in place, because especially right now, there’s a lot of change in terms of the way that these drones are regulated and licensed by the FCC and the FAA and so on,” said Erickson. “Where your drone comes from matters. When you’re talking to dealers, distributors, whoever, when you’re in the market, ask these questions, and make sure you get a real answer.”

Some providers, like Hylio, provide their customers with a guide for how to navigate the process and help customers understand which licenses they need to apply for. “Make sure you have all of your licenses in place before you actually start doing any real commercial operations,” Erickson said.

Planned, phased deployments can yield strong results

Despite the challenges, drones can still provide real value for farmers. But it’s key for users to have a realistic understanding of what the process will look like. In agriculture, some users are already well positioned for deploying drones.

“We’ve had people come in that have a background in aerial application by helicopter and planes, so they are very regimented and disciplined,” noted Erickson. “They understand the importance of having safety checklists and SOPs clearly defined for their team,” Erickson said.

So what can we learn from these customers? Having a plan is key, Erickson said. It allows users to get the most value from their drones the fastest.

“Think about where you’re going to apply it. Chances are, it’s probably not on 100% of your land. Maybe you start off with 20% of your land that’s traditionally trickier to access with the tractors you have,” he said. “Put it where it’s needed first. Then, as you get more experience with it, and grow your fleet by a few more drones, you can start treating more and more and replacing more and more of the traditional methods on your land.”

Farmers need more automation, says Erickson

Erickson has more than a decade of experience working with farmers and hearing about their frustrations first hand. This has shown him how desperately the industry needs automation.

Across the board, Erickson said he sees the same story. Prices for certain crops, particularly grain, soybeans, and wheat, have been steadily dropping for years. In some cases, such as corn, prices have dropped 50% to 70% in recent years, said Erickson.

“All the while, their costs are dramatically increasing by basically the same figure,” he said about the farmers. “So, a 50% to 60% cost increase from pre-COVID, 2019 levels.”

Fertilizers are a big part of this, but the problem also extends to pesticides, herbicides, and other things that farmers need to ship from abroad. Between COVID-19, the Russia-Ukraine conflict, trade wars, and the conflict with Iran, Erickson said the industry has grown increasingly stressed.

“All these political and geostrategic conflicts have really disrupted the global supply chain and really just increased these input costs for farmers,” he said. “They’re getting squeezed from both ends. They’re not making as much money per acre, per bushel, and they’re spending lot more. That’s just not a recipe for a lot of financial success for them.”

In response to these challenges, Erickson said Hylio hopes to come in and show farmers how they can do more with less.

“If you can only afford half of the inputs you used to put into your crop, can you make that amount of chemical more effective? Can you meet or exceed the effectiveness of your previous treatments at higher volumes by using precise targeted attacks on the fungus that’s affecting your corn or the insects?” he asked. “Whatever the pathogen is that’s affecting your crops, can you be smarter and reduce the input amount that you need and get the same, if not better, results?”