Crop Spraying in Monroe County, WI for Corn, Alfalfa and Soybeans

Monroe County crop spraying rates

Crop spraying by drone in Monroe County, Wisconsin is billed per acre for application only. Product is charged at cost, or you supply it. Wisconsin drone rates run about $11–22 per acre for row crops and alfalfa, with a 2026 state typical near $16. For comparison, UW's custom rate survey puts ground fungicide application at $12.17 on average.

Service	Typical rate
Corn and soybean fungicide	from $14/acre
Herbicide (corn, soybeans, small grains)	from $14/acre
Alfalfa weevil and leafhopper passes	from $14/acre
Cover crop seeding and frost seeding	from $15/acre
Fields bordering cranberry marshes	from $16/acre

Quotes depend on acres per trip, hills and wooded draws, gallons per acre on the label, extra buffer planning next to cranberry beds, and whether the field lies near Fort McCoy airspace. A $350 minimum applies per visit, and neighbors often share one.

Dairy, cranberries and grain

The 2022 USDA Census of Agriculture counts 1,375 farms on 263,476 acres in Monroe County, averaging 192 acres. Sales reached $249.9 million, 63% from livestock. Milk leads at $112.6 million, fruit and berries rank second in Wisconsin at $28.6 million, and poultry and eggs rank sixth in the state.

Crop	Acres (2022)
Corn for grain	45,036
Forage (alfalfa and hay)	40,006
Soybeans	25,926
Corn silage	12,894
Berries	3,602

The county carries about 59,100 cattle and 202,000 laying hens. Corn, soybeans and alfalfa account for most of the spray acres. Cranberries, the highest-value crop per acre, set the rules for drift.

Spraying next to cranberry marshes

Wisconsin grew 4.8 million barrels of cranberries in 2025, over 60% of the U.S. crop. Monroe County was second in the state at about 990,000 barrels, behind only Wood County. Most marshes lie in the sandy, low ground of the northeast around Warrens, home of the Warrens Cranberry Festival. Cranberry growers run their own fungicide and insect programs, often spraying 2–5 times a season, and they rent honeybees and rely on native bees at bloom. A drift event from a neighboring corn or soybean pass can cost a marsh far more than the field is worth. Before every job near a marsh, pilots:

• check DriftWatch for registered marshes and BeeCheck for hives;
• set wide downwind buffers and fly only when wind blows away from beds and ditches;
• use coarse droplets and lower flight height;
• avoid bee-toxic products during cranberry bloom.

Fort McCoy restricted airspace

Fort McCoy covers about 60,000 acres between Sparta and Tomah. Restricted area R-6901A lies north of Highway 21 and R-6901B south of it. The eastern edge borders the Volk South military operations area. No drone flies inside active restricted airspace without approval, so fields near Fort McCoy are checked against current activation times and NOTAMs before scheduling. Sparta/Fort McCoy Airport (CMY), 3 nautical miles northeast of Sparta, has a control tower, and Bloyer Field (Y72) sits about a mile east of downtown Tomah. LAANC authorization is needed wherever controlled airspace reaches the ground.

Tar spot and waterhemp decisions

Tar spot. In UW plots, a single fungicide pass at VT did well some years, but two passes were needed for full control: one at V10 and one at R2. Fungicides with mixed modes of action performed more consistently. The Tarspotter app helps time sprays.

Waterhemp. UW has confirmed Wisconsin waterhemp resistant to Group 2, 9 and 14 herbicides. Glyphosate resistance has been found in 28 counties and glyphosate-plus-PPO resistance in 10. Post passes need layered modes of action on small weeds.

Dicamba. The 2026 over-the-top dicamba labels (Engenia, Tavium, Stryax) prohibit aerial application, including drones. They also require a 240-foot downwind buffer, which matters even more next to cranberry beds. Dicamba stays with ground equipment.

Alfalfa and cover crops on hill farms

With 40,006 acres of forage and many fields on Driftless slopes, alfalfa insect passes are a steady job between cuttings. A drone works on side hills where a sprayer risks tipping or tearing up the stand. After corn silage and soybean harvest, a drone can broadcast cereal rye or oats into standing crops so cover is up before the ground freezes. In late February and March it can frost-seed clover into pasture and thin hay stands.

Working with Amish and small farms

The Cashton settlement, which spans Vernon and Monroe counties, is Wisconsin's largest Amish community, with about 2,800 people in 20 church districts since 1966. A second settlement near Wilton and Tomah has about 1,430 people. Many of these farms are small and mixed, with produce plots and horse pasture next to grain. Crews schedule around Sunday and other preferences, park at the field rather than the farmstead, and treat produce gardens as drift-sensitive sites.

Monroe County spray season

Window	Pass
Late February–March	Frost seeding clover into pasture
May–June	Corn and soybean post herbicide; alfalfa weevil
June–August	Potato leafhopper in alfalfa between cuttings
July–August	Corn fungicide V10–R2; soybean R3
September–October	Cover crop seeding into standing crops and after silage

Wisconsin licensing

DATCP requires commercial drone applicators to hold base category 1.1 (Field and Vegetable Crops) and subcategory 9.9 (Aerial Applicator), which covers airplanes, helicopters and drones. The applicator also needs an annual individual commercial applicator license, and the company needs a pesticide business license. Operators hold FAA Part 107 and Part 137 certification, plus a Section 44807 exemption for drones of 55 pounds or more.