Ag Drone Services in Leavenworth County, KS for Soybeans, Hay and Acreages

Ag drone service prices in Leavenworth County

Ag drone services in Leavenworth County, KS are billed per acre, per pass, application only. Operators listed for the county quote $10–20 per acre, with Kansas typical at about $12.50. The 2026 Kansas custom rates survey put northeast aerial herbicide and insecticide/fungicide work at an $11 average. Our rates:

Service	Typical rate	Notes
Soybean and corn fungicide	from $12/acre	R3 beans, tassel corn
Rescue herbicide	from $12/acre	Where labeled for aerial use
Hay and pasture weeds	from $12/acre	Broadleaves, thistles
Noxious weed patches	from $14/acre	Acreages, fence rows
Cover crop seeding	from $14/acre	Seed billed separately

Fields under 10 acres are billed as 10 acres, and neighbors can share a trip. Product is billed separately. Quotes reflect field size, homes nearby, airspace and the spray volume on the label.

Soybeans, hay and corn

Leavenworth County had 1,023 farms on 150,003 acres in the 2022 Census of Agriculture, averaging 147 acres, with sales up 41% to $62.1 million, 72% from crops.

Crop or livestock	2022
Soybeans	38,449 acres
Hay and forage	25,810 acres
Corn for grain	19,400 acres
Wheat	1,420 acres
Cattle	16,912 head
Horses	1,016 head

The county ranked second in Kansas for fruit, nut and berry sales and sixth for nursery, greenhouse and sod. Ag drone services in Leavenworth County cover soybeans and corn, hay meadows and the small acreages that ring the towns.

Half the farms under 50 acres

Of Leavenworth County's 1,023 farms, 136 run 1–9 acres and 377 run 10–49 acres; only 25 top 1,000 acres. Farm numbers fell 16% and land in farms 23% between 2017 and 2022 as acreages grew around Basehor, Tonganoxie and Lansing. Small pastures and hay fields sit next to homes, so operators map houses, gardens and windbreaks as no-spray zones and fly only with wind blowing away from them.

County noxious weed rules

Kansas law lists field bindweed, musk thistle, Johnsongrass, bur ragweed, Canada thistle, sericea lespedeza, leafy spurge, hoary cress, quackgrass, Russian knapweed, kudzu and pignut as noxious, and Leavenworth County adds bull thistle and multiflora rose. The county weed department sells herbicide to residents at 25% below county cost and rents sprayers. Landowners can supply that product for a drone pass on thistle patches, fence rows and rough pasture.

Stranger Creek and the Missouri River

Stranger Creek, the largest tributary of the Kansas River, drains nearly the whole county from north to south, and the Missouri River forms the northeast boundary. The county has 34 streams and nine lakes, and flooding along the Missouri is its main natural hazard. Rain averages about 38.6 inches a year, and July highs average about 90°F. Bottom fields that stay wet after high water are treated without ruts, and creeks are mapped as no-spray zones.

Tar spot and southern rust

Tar spot was confirmed in Washington, Republic and Brown counties in northeast Kansas by mid-2026, with losses that can reach 56 bushels an acre. K-State plant pathologists time the first fungicide at V10 to VT/R1 and a second at R1–R3 if pressure stays high, noting that passes before V10 or after R3 rarely pay. Southern rust usually arrives later in summer once temperatures pass 80°F, so scouting decides the second pass.

Lansing, prisons and the farm

Lansing Correctional Facility opened as the Kansas State Penitentiary in 1868, and Kansas Correctional Industries runs a farm in the valley between its compounds. Kansas has no law making a flight over a prison a specific crime, but federal and state correctional grounds stay off every flight plan as a matter of course. The state facility holds about 2,489 people, and its new main building opened in 2020.

Field conditions

Field condition	Ground sprayer	Spray drone
Wet Missouri River bottoms	Ruts, stuck rigs	No soil contact
Corn at tassel	Crop damage	Flies above the canopy
Small acreages near homes	Drift concerns	Mapped buffers
Soybeans at R3	Wheel-track losses	No crop contact

A Leavenworth County spray season

Window	Typical drone work
April to May	Musk thistle rosettes, pasture weeds
June	Rescue herbicide, hay between cuttings
July	Corn fungicide from V10 to R1
August	Soybean R3 passes, second corn pass if needed
Late August to September	Cover crops into standing crops

Sherman Army Airfield and Kansas City airspace

Sherman Army Airfield on Fort Leavenworth, about a mile north of the city at the foot of the Missouri River bluffs, is shared with the city under a joint-use agreement. The eastern county also lies under Kansas City International's Class B airspace, whose nearest shelf floor starts at 2,400 feet MSL, well above a spray drone. Crews still check airspace and get FAA authorization where needed before every nearby job.

Kansas licensing

The Kansas Department of Agriculture (KDA) approves each drone application business, and only certified commercial applicators may apply. The business holds an FAA Part 137 certificate with Part 107 pilots.