News Photo by Mike Gonzalez Robert Emerick, left, and Kathy Thompson look at a large drone spraying fungicide on their soybean crops close by Emerick’s house on Monday.

HARRISVILLE TOWNSHIP — Pesticide, herbicide, and all kinds of chemicals are essential for farmers to keep their crops alive.

Otherwise, bugs, weeds, and mold can harm the plants and the harvest yield, potentially making farmers lose profits.

Farmers can choose two ways to spray chemicals on their acres.

They can use ground rigs that drive through the fields and spray crops. However, the wheels of the vehicles still take out a small but expensive number of plants.

The other way is via aircrafts, or crop dusters. Planes dust crops as they fly over, but that method harbors some danger. On Saturday, a crop duster plane crashed in the Bay Port area in Michigan’s Thumb. Police are investigating. The pilot was uninjured in the crash.

“It’s sad the way so many of those pilots end up,” Robert Emerick, owner of an Alcona County farm, said. “They always say there’s old pilots and there’s bold pilots, but there’s no old, bold pilots.”

Emerick has used both ways to spray his crops. He said both options were effective, but they either posed risk of death or loss of profit.

Now, he has decided to go with a new third option — drones.

According to Alan Peters, a worker at agricultural company Gold Coast Sales, the drone that sprayed Emerick’s fields has a 10-foot wingspan and will carry the chemicals through 400 acres of soybean fields within a day and a half.

“This is our first year in the drone area,” Peters said. “We kind of started this back in January, so it’s just taken a lot of time to put together. It’s been challenging, been a lot of learning, but we’re still accomplishing our goals of service in the farm world.”

While Peters works at Gold Coast, his stepson, Brandon Kantz, works at Eagle Endeavours Drone Service as a pilot.

“He’s always liked the remote-controlled stuff,” Peters said. “When he was a young child, he snuck off at the county fair and bought some remote control helicopters after his mother told him not to. So he hid them at a friend’s house. He’s had drones for probably four or five years now.”

Kantz received his drone certification through Michigan State University and sets courses for the drones to follow so all the crops get sufficient levels of chemical solutions.

Emerick asked the drone team to come in for herbicide and fungicide. He said the herbicide will help with weeds in the fields and the fungicide helps with white mold, a common problem with soybeans.

He and the two others that work alongside him, Randy and Kathy Thompson, planned to work on the crops, themselves, but after accidents and surgeries the plan changed.

“I had an accident here on the farm this spring,” Emerick said. “That seed tender … I was cranking the tarp back on the blame thing and the tarp got stuck. Got a little bit crooked and stuff. I thought I had it straight and it would go alright, so I started cranking again. The crank slipped out of my hand. Came around and hit me in the jaw real hard and I went down on the back of my head and back, flat on hard clay.”

Emerick had four brain bleeds from the accident and his lower spine started swelling. He said the doctors found swelling around nerves and muscles that made it difficult for him to walk with his right leg.

After months of physical therapy, Emerick is able to walk with both legs with a little help from a cane.

His son-in-law, Randy Thompson, had his shoulder replaced and recently went through carpal tunnel surgery. Randy Thompson helps with field work on the farm as Kathy Thompson, Emerick’s oldest daughter, runs the books. They call themselves the Gator Gang because of their John Deere Gator trucks.

With two of the three Gator Gang out of commission, they heard about drone services and decided to call the company for spraying.

Janice Emerick, the wife of Robert, said the drone is a one-year situation and they plan to continue using ground rigs.

Robert Emerick asked for a quote to possibly purchase a large drone for spray use. It was estimated to go up to $37,000. He told that to his crew and wife. Randy Thompson was the only person to say it was not that expensive.

“Oh, man, hundreds of babies,” Randy Thompson said as he checked on some soybean crops. “Maybe we’ll make close to 60 bushels this year. Oh, would that be nice?”

The best they’ve ever produced in a year was about 50 bushels, or 1,760 liters of soybeans. The crew believes the lack of loss from tires running over crops will increase their yield.

Peters said he’s read studies that show about two bushels, or 70.4 liters.

“Have you ever seen anything like it,” Janice Emerick asked as she viewed the drones spraying the 400 acres with pesticide. “Cutting edge of technology and it’s right here. My mother would say it’s too expensive.”

“My father wouldn’t believe this was possible,” Robert Emerick said with a chuckle. “He wouldn’t believe there was a way to spray the crops without killing some of them.”