This September, Drone as a Service (DaaS) is heading to the National Ploughing Championships in Tullamore, bringing its agricultural drone expertise directly to farmers.

Find the team at Stand 78, Block 3, Row 4, where they'll be on hand throughout the event to talk through precision aerial spraying and spreading, grassland management, forestry services, and more, and explain what it could mean for your own land.

Every mission is flown by an IAA-certified pilot using registered drones, meaning farmers get all the benefit of the technology without the cost or hassle of owning a fleet, hiring pilots, or managing regulatory approvals themselves.

One drone, every acre covered

Drone as a Service has become one of the first companies in Ireland approved to carry out aerial spraying and spreading of granular and liquid fertiliser, seed, and pellets by drone, using one of the first, if not the only, 50kg-capacity spraying and spreading drones in the country, giving it the payload to treat real farmland at real scale.

This is not limited to the hardest-to-reach corners of a field; it is a genuine option for applying inputs across a farm generally.

Drones follow flight paths programmed specifically for each field, using variable-rate and spot-application technology to apply inputs exactly where they are needed, whether that is a full field pass or targeted treatment of problem areas flagged through crop or grassland monitoring.

The result is less waste, more efficient input use, and faster coverage than conventional ground equipment across a site of any shape or size.

Because the drone never touches the ground, there's no compaction and no wheeling damage, on flat, easily accessible ground just as much as steep banks or soft corners.

Every application is GPS-guided and logged, giving farmers a clear, traceable record of exactly what went down, where, and when, useful for both efficiency and compliance.

For farmers managing large acreages, fragmented land, or fields coming out of a wet spell, this means inputs can go down on schedule, protecting yield potential that would otherwise be lost to timing or terrain.

Smarter grassland management

Ireland's grasslands are some of the most productive in Europe, but getting the most from them takes precise, consistent information.

The Grassland Management service uses scheduled drone flights to capture high-resolution imagery of grass cover, density, and growth rates, translating it into hard numbers: biomass, sward height, and yield in kgDM per hectare, run weekly, fortnightly, or monthly, supporting better decisions on grazing rotations, cutting schedules, and nitrates compliance.

Extending into forestry

The same precision reaches into forestry too.

Drone as a Service is currently developing a LiDAR forestry mapping service, designed to penetrate the canopy and deliver full-canopy stocking density, DBH, top height, and taper factor data, supporting standing volume and yield class figures that stand up to audit.

Alongside this, non-PPP aerial spraying and spreading of fertiliser, lime, biostimulants, and seed across forestry sites - including steep or poor-access ground - is also in development, with particular value expected following windblow events or clearfell.

Equine and racecourse support

The same precision extends to Ireland's studs, yards, and racecourses.

For equine properties, aerial nutrient application places fertiliser precisely on gallops and paddocks with no wheeling, compaction, or bruising of the sward, protecting ground quality inspected daily by owners, trainers, and vets.

Racecourses benefit similarly, with drone data supporting turf health monitoring, centimetre-accurate course mapping, drainage management, and surface inspections that flag risks to horses and riders.

One platform, many applications

Beyond spraying, spreading, and grassland management, the broader agricultural offering gives farmers a fuller picture of their operation from the air.

Crop Health Monitoring flags nitrogen deficiency, water stress, or disease before it is visible on the ground.
Livestock Health Management combines thermal imaging with artificial intelligence (AI) analytics to count, track, and flag sick or isolated animals.
Farm Maintenance inspections spot building, roof, road, and drainage issues early.

Drone as a Service’s expertise does not stop at the farm gate either.

Its experienced team supports construction, land surveying, real estate, and government projects nationwide, alongside renewables, telecommunications, and insurance industry work, giving businesses across Ireland the same precision, speed, and safety benefits farmers get from the sky.

Precision without the price of a fleet

What ties all of this together is access. Farmers do not need to own a drone, hire a pilot, or invest in new machinery to benefit from any of it.

Drone as a Service brings the technology, the flight operations, and the data analysis, so farmers get the insight, and the spraying and spreading, without the capital outlay.

As Ireland's farmers face growing pressure to do more with less, aerial precision is fast becoming less of a novelty and more of a necessity.

Visit us at the National Ploughing Championships

Stand 78 | Block 3 | Row 4

Email:  [email protected]

Phone: 1800 832 081