Products · Heavy-Lift and Civil Logistics

Logistics Configuration for Agriculture and Forestry

Agricultural and forestry logistics is a route-repeatability problem: the same trip, many times, on a schedule that the operation can absorb.

6 of 10Method note

Overview

Fix the pickup and drop points, then optimise the route; changing a landing point invalidates the endurance calculation.
Season and crop height change both the ground surface and the airflow near the ground.
Dust and plant material ingress affect maintenance intervals; build the cleaning routine into the schedule.
Consider whether the load can be slung rather than boxed — it changes the aircraft requirement significantly.

Agricultural aerial work is mostly application, not transport

Aerial work in agriculture and forestry is usually described as logistics, and it is more precisely application: the aircraft carries a system that does something to the crop or the stand — spraying, spreading, seeding — and the transport of material is incidental to that. This distinction matters because it changes what the aircraft has to do: not move mass from A to B, but carry a system over an area in a controlled, repeatable pattern.

That reframes the specification. Coverage rate per hour, application uniformity, swath width and the ability to fly a consistent pattern over irregular terrain become the primary figures. Payload capacity matters, but mainly because it sets how often the aircraft must stop to refill — and refill stops are the main interruption to coverage rate.

The second reframing is that the material being carried is consumable and its properties matter. Liquid application behaves differently from granular; density, viscosity and particle size all affect flow rate and distribution, and a system calibrated for one material will not necessarily apply another correctly. Specify the material and calibrate for it rather than assuming interchangeability.

Coverage rate, tank size and the refill cycle

Coverage rate is governed by swath width, ground speed and the fraction of time spent not applying. That last term is where most programmes lose capacity: every return to the refill point costs transit time, turnaround time and the time to load, and the smaller the tank, the more often it happens.

This creates a real but bounded trade. A larger tank reduces refill frequency but adds mass, which reduces endurance and may reduce manoeuvrability. There is an optimum for a given field size and refill point distance, and it is worth computing rather than guessing. Very small fields and very distant refill points pull in opposite directions.

Refill point placement is usually the cheapest lever available. Moving the refill point closer to the working area improves coverage rate without changing the aircraft at all, and on large blocks a staged refill point is often the single highest-return change a programme can make. Assess it before spending on capacity.

Pattern accuracy and uniformity

Application uniformity is a quality requirement, not a nice-to-have, and it depends on pattern accuracy. Overlaps and gaps in the spray or spread pattern translate directly into over-application and under-application on the ground, which has agronomic and cost consequences and, in the case of crop protection products, regulatory ones.

Uniformity is produced by consistent ground speed, consistent altitude above the crop, and accurate line keeping — particularly at the ends of runs and around obstacles. Terrain following helps where the ground or canopy is uneven, but it requires reliable elevation data to plan against. Where the stand is tall and uneven, altitude control over the canopy rather than over the ground is usually what matters.

Drift is the other uniformity factor and it is environmental. Fine droplets and light granules move with wind, and off-target movement is both a quality and a compliance problem. Set a wind limit appropriate to the material and droplet or particle size, plan buffer zones near sensitive areas, and be prepared to stop when conditions exceed the limit rather than to finish the block.

The operating season and the maintenance reality

Agricultural aerial work is seasonal and concentrated, which means the system must be available at exactly the time the crop needs treatment, and that window may be short. Readiness during the season outweighs most other considerations: spares, a second aircraft or a service arrangement that can respond within days rather than weeks is worth more than marginal capability gains.

The working environment is also chemically aggressive. Crop protection products, fertilisers and seeding materials are corrosive or abrasive, and they contact the aircraft, the pump, the nozzles and the tank. A cleaning routine applied after every session, plus inspection of wetted components on a short interval, is the standard mitigation and it should be scheduled from the start rather than discovered.

Finally, note that application work is regulated differently from other aerial work in most jurisdictions, with requirements covering operator licensing, product handling, drift management and record keeping. Compliance is the operator's responsibility and it varies by location — confirm the applicable requirements where you will operate before planning the programme.

Configuring an agricultural application system

The configuration we would propose starts from the material, the coverage rate required and the field geometry, then works back to tank size, swath width and refill point placement. Pattern accuracy and uniformity are specified as requirements rather than assumed, and the wind limit is set against the material being applied.

Where the material, the application system or the field conditions are non-standard, or where the system must integrate with an existing farm management process, that should be scoped as engineering work. Our custom agricultural systems track covers that, including the field testing that validates application in real conditions.

Send your crop or stand type, material, area and field geometry, required coverage rate, refill point options and applicable local requirements to our engineering team. We will propose a configuration and estimate the coverage rate it delivers, and we will be explicit about the conditions under which we would advise stopping.