SUBMITTED PHOTO — Isaiah Borgos, owner of Heartland Sky, shows two of his drones he will use to spray in his new business. Borgos got the new Marshalltown business up and running earlier this month.

A new business is up and “flying” in Marshalltown — Heartland Sky.

Owned by Isaiah Borgos, it is a drone spraying operation and officially opened in the middle of April.

“It’s the same thing crop dusters do, except with a drone,” he said.

Borgos, 22, started Heartland Sky with three 80-pound drones which can each hold 10.5 gallons of chemical at a time. With a full tank, a drone is able to cover a little more than five acres at a time before having to get more chemicals.

“I can take on jobs that require more, it just takes a little more time — whatever fits best for the farmer,” he said.

The majority of the spraying Borgos will do is fungicide, primarily for corn and soybean fields. He will also spray when soybeans are in the beginning pod (R3) stage. However, there are numerous additional situations the drones can be used for. For example, Borgos said he will submit a bid to spray the prairie by Grimes Farm and there could also be opportunities to spray canopies and orchards in the required seasons and pastures to reduce the number of grasshoppers.

“They’re so nimble and they can get to places the big old sprayers can’t get,” he said. “They just cover ground more efficiently, and make it worth it to pay the extra dollar to have the drones do it. It’s one of those things where when people see what it can do, they will jump on the ship.”

Borgos described the process of each job, which begins with confirmation from the farmer. He then maps the field to be sprayed so the drone knows the boundaries.

“That way, it doesn’t waste any chemicals or goes places it shouldn’t go,” Borgos said. “After that, you get all of your tanks mixed, fill up the drones and fly them off of the top of the trailer. It’s a lot of fly-in, fly-out, refill, send them back out. It’s a lot of the same process over and over, but they do a great job.”

He estimated he covers 35 acres per hour per drone, on a good day and with good weather. On days with winds more than 15 mph, spraying is not supposed to be done to prevent chemical drift.

“If it’s close to honeybees, I can’t spray next to them,” Borgos said. “Obviously, I can’t spray if it’s raining. A big part of this job is counting on Mother Nature to coincide with me, but that is what makes it fun. I don’t complain about it too much.”

With three drones operating at the same time and in optimal weather, a 100-acre field can be sprayed in roughly one hour. There are fewer limitations as to when that one hour begins. He can start spraying at 7 a.m. and go until 3 a.m., thanks to Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) regulations.

Regulations

Borgos has had to become familiar with FAA requirements since he got the idea of starting a drone spraying business. It took him five months to get through the steps to become federally regulated to fly his drones. As long as the drone registration number paperwork is returned to him before June, he will be good to go.

“There are a lot of things I didn’t even realize that went into regulation of aircraft,” Borgos said. “It’s been a good learning experience for me, but there’s a lot I didn’t know about. Respect to the people who deal with it everyday. It really is a lot.”

Some of the requirements he discovered he needed was a Part 441087, which gives him the ability to fly a larger drone over fields. Then there is Part 137, which the FAA requires for a drone to spray chemicals.

“Outside of the FAA stuff, you have to take the 11F Pesticide Applications exam,” Borgos said. “That’s for you to spray in the state of Iowa. Also for the FAA, you have to get your Part 107, and that’s just a basic UAS test, showing you can fly the drone and know the rules and requirements to do so. There’s definitely a good amount of stuff you have to get tidied up.”

Plus, he had to do insurance paperwork and is fully insured. Fortunately, it is not as challenging to get drone insurance as it used to be. Borgos is insured through VT Insurance of Texas, and they will cover potential incidents if some of the chemicals drift. He also partnered with a Marshall County company to supply him with the chemicals.

Borgos is confident the usage of drones will become more commonplace. While seeing crop dusters is still normal, he believes drone spraying will become more requested. Borgos said more money can be saved as opposed to utilizing a crop duster during difficult economic times when every dollar counts.

“These drones can fill that gap from saving money while still doing the best job possible,” he said. “I think once the farmers realize the cases in which drones can be used, they should, because in return it will give them a higher yield and better results.”

With paperwork taken care of, and necessary certifications received, Borgos is ready to turn his interest into a career. His interest in drone spraying began as Borgos worked at Terraplex Ag in Des Moines, where he sprayed more than 5,500 acres. He was hired after obtaining his degree in software development, and discovered he enjoyed the work. However, starting his own business was something he wanted to do with work he loved.

“I took the leap and luckily played my cards right,” Borgos said. “Now I have a thing of my own. I am very confident in what I am doing, and I love it.”

BUSINESS INFORMATION:

Name: Heartland Sky

Address: 1603 Iowa Ave. W

Hours: 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., Monday through Saturday

Phone: 641-352-9089

Email: heartlandskyllc@gmail.com.

Website: heartlandsky.com

Contact Lana Bradstream at 641-753-6611 ext. 211 or lbradstream@timesrepublican.com.