Farmers in the U.S. are currently in a tough spot. Labor is hard to find, and the weather windows for spraying crops seem to be getting shorter every year. To help bridge that gap, XAG just showed off its new P150 Max Agricultural Drone at the Spray Drone End User Conference. It’s a tool built specifically for people who need to get a lot of work done in very little time.
More Than Just a Spraying Tool
The P150 Max is essentially a multi-tool for the sky. It can spray, spread seeds or fertilizer, map out fields, and even move supplies around. You can swap between these tasks in a few minutes, which is helpful when the weather is about to turn.
The numbers are pretty impressive. It can carry up to 176 pounds and fly at speeds near 45 mph. In a typical hour, it covers 50 to 60 acres, but it can push up to 80 acres if the conditions are right. If that’s still not fast enough, one person can actually fly two of these at the same time using “swarm control.” This isn’t just a concept model, either. This series has logged over 9 million flight hours globally, from the hills of New Zealand to the plains of South Africa.
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Smart Drone for the Fields
One of the biggest headaches with drones is making sure they don’t hit anything. The P150 Max uses a “SuperX 5 Ultra” system that navigates with centimeter-level accuracy. It also has 4D radar to spot the things farmers deal with every day, like power lines and center pivots.
If you’re using it for liquid spraying, it uses a 21-gallon tank and special nozzles that let you change the droplet size depending on the crop. If you’re spreading fertilizer or cover crops, it can drop 661 pounds of material per minute. And because sitting around waiting for a battery to charge is a waste of time, the battery can actually reach a full charge in about seven minutes when using a cooling tower setup.
The drone is now FCC-approved and available through dealers in the U.S., with deliveries starting soon. It’s a practical piece of tech for anyone trying to manage a farm with fewer hands on deck.
