Radio Interview at Henty Machinery Field Days September 20th 2023

Interviewer:

A bit of midnight oil and forgotten years on 14942AY, a wide crowd still pumping out here. The Henty Machinery Field Days is a lot of good people here as the jingle says and of course you can get your tickets for tomorrow at hmfd.com.au. We're still here with Nick Smith from dronesforhire.com.au. Now you've got a couple of local places where you're actually setting up some of these drones right now. 

Nick Smith:

Yeah we do. We have some customers, a lot of interest coming from the Aubrey -Rodonga area and we have customers operating in Bethanga, Tulangata, Gandharing and some of those areas surrounding those places as well. 

Interviewer:

A couple of beautiful locations. Now tell us about your setup day if we're interested in some of these amazing drones. 

Nick Smith:

Yeah sure so with every spray drone that we supply we include a full setup day with customers and that enables or ensures that they're using it confidently and so on the setup day we include preparation for spraying, helping to plot out their missions on their particular piece of land so we can understand by visiting their property we can understand their country and their terrain and help guide them about the best way to use the spray drone for each section of their property. So we include a full setup day and we also do mapping on that day as well so we can map out sections of their property and focus on the highest priority areas that the customers have for spraying weeds that are otherwise hard to reach. 

Interviewer:

Fantastic you keep talking about I guess these hard to get to areas and I mean it's why these drones are the best option instead of your quad bikes and all those sorts of things that can be quite dangerous. 

Nick Smith:

Yeah 100% so spray drones have really become famous for spraying in areas that are hard to access so very steep terrain gullies, rocky areas you know traditionally the farmers have always used things like quick sprays but they can be very hard work because you're walking up and down hills all day. Quad bikes can be quite dangerous because obviously when it gets steep they can roll over and be a hazard. and helicopter operators are good, but they have less precision and accuracy and they're often booked out because everyone wants to book them at the same time. So spray drones have very effectively resolved those problems and offered what we think is a more optimal solution for spraying difficult access areas. 

Interviewer:

Absolutely. Tell us a little bit about the spot spraying as well. 

Nick Smith:

Yeah, so if you have, say for example, Blackberry on steep terrain, you're not necessarily or quite often not using the drone in a way you would fly an RC car or an RC helicopter, so you would actually map the area first and then draw circles around where the Blackberry is and then the spray drone will go off and only spray those circled areas automatically on its own. 

Interviewer:

That's fantastic, isn't it? 

Nick Smith:

Yeah, so it's not manually flying the drone when you're doing spray drone work. 

Interviewer:

Stuff way over my head, but it might not be, of course, over some of the farmers in this region who can come out and find a little bit more about dronesforhire.com.au and grab one of these amazing sprays. In terms of inquiries or anything like that, Nick... the best place to grab you is of course at the website. 

Nick Smith:

Yeah, yeah, that's right. So it's dronesforhire.com.au. We're the largest drone site in Australia. We've been operating for 10 years and we focus on agricultural drones. And yeah, if you're at the Henty Field Days, come and have a look at our stand. Otherwise have a look at the website and I'm very happy to chat with anyone who's got country like that and has a problem spraying their weeds. 

Interviewer:

Nick Smith, thank you very much for joining us. I feel like I'm a drone expert now after the last hour or so. Thanks for joining us on 2AY and enjoy the rest of the Henty Machinery Field Days. Thanks very much, Panda. 

© 2025 Drones For Hire. All rights reserved.

This article may not be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means without prior written permission from the author or publisher, except in the case of brief quotations used for review or scholarly purposes.

Disclaimer: The information provided in this article is for general informational purposes only and does not constitute professional or legal advice. While efforts have been made to ensure the accuracy and relevance of the content, readers should consult with qualified experts or local authorities before making decisions related to agricultural drone use, regulations, or investments.

<< Back to Articles