# 10K Drone Acres & Ground Rigs: Newt's Florida Ag Grind & First-Flight Disaster | DroneOn Show Ep 38

Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-droneon-show-7309385/10k-drone-acres-ground-rigs-newt-s-florida-ag-grind-first-flight-disaster-droneon-show-ep-38
Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-droneon-show-7309385/10k-drone-acres-ground-rigs-newt-s-florida-ag-grind-first-flight-disaster-droneon-show-ep-38.md
Podcast: [The DroneOn Show](https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-droneon-show-7309385)
Published: 2026-01-22T13:49:25+00:00
Episode link: https://the-droneon-show.castos.com/episodes/the-droneon-show-ep-38
Audio file: https://episodes.castos.com/6537f5d7c678e0-03541919/2333962/c1e-1q5xvin727dfk93d87-dm122vvotkvn-9ia6vt.mp3
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Duration seconds: 2684

## Resource

In this episode of the DroneOn Show, host Mike chats with Newt, a Florida cattle farmer with 150 mama cows across three ranches who's also a veteran applicator branching into spray drones after years in the business with ground rigs and spreaders. Newt shares how he jumped into drones to secure his customer base when a client switched to aerial spraying for tall corn that ground rigs couldn't handle without damage, leading him to buy a full rig and spray at least 10,000 acres in his first season—enough to cover costs and stay in the black. They break down the realities of the application game: slim 5-8% profit margins after factoring in trucks, labor, insurance, and hidden costs; the need to travel for more corn work; trailer tweaks like plumbing upgrades and inductions for guys coming from ground rigs; and why drones shine in Florida's wet, humid fields where rigs get stuck or create ruts. Newt dishes on efficiency tips like marking obstacles for better autonomous flights, and a hilarious first-flight crash where his T50 sucked up the controller and exploded props—but survived with just blade swaps to rack up 5,000 acres. If you're eyeing the spray drone life, from startup costs and customer retention to crash lessons and landing pro tips, this raw field talk from a cattleman-turned-drone op delivers.

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## Transcript

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