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Adam Cory’s new business takes flight

Young entrepreneur utilizes a drone to spray farmer’s fields

By Kevin Mertens - Staff Writer | Sep 15, 2024

Adam Cory, an 18-year old student at Maple River High School, stands on a platform on a trailer he uses for his drone spraying service. Cory’s trailer is used to transport his drone, mixing tanks and a generator which is used to supply power to the drone’s battery charger system. Now that school has started again, Cory is back in the classroom and back on the football field where he plays in the line for the Eagles.

Adam Cory appears to be a typical, ordinary teenager, and he is.

Cory is a senior at Maple River High School, plays for the Eagles’ football team, is a member of FFA and like most kids his age, he doesn’t care for homework. He is also a member of this year’s Homecoming court at Maple River.

What sets Cory apart is that he also owns his own business. The 18-year-old entrepreneur started operating his own company, Elevation Ag, last April while he was still a junior in high school.

Elevation Ag utilizes a drone to apply treatments to fields and also to seed cover crops.

“This year I applied fungicides to crops and also did some aerial seeding of cover crops of rye, kale, turnips or radishes,” Cory says. “Next year, I plan to be able to apply herbicides. It takes a different kind of insurance to be able to do that.”

Cory says the reason he began his business is really pretty simple.

“Nobody else around here was really doing it,’ he comments. “Somebody had to be the first.”

Cory lives on a farm a few miles southwest of Easton with his parents, Chad and Beth, and two younger brothers, Devin and Ethan.

“When I am not in school I am usually doing something farm related,” Cory shares. “I help out with spring planting and the fall harvest.”

The young businessman seems to have a pretty solid grasp of an evolving ag industry.

“Farming is becoming more and more technology driven,” Cory notes. “Using a drone to spray crops is part of that evolution.”

Cory shares what he feels are some of the advantages of utilizing a drone for spraying.

“You are not running over any crops like you would with a typical sprayer,” he says. “There is also no risk compared to a pilot operating a spray plane.”

The drone Cory uses for spraying is obviously much larger than a typical drone someone might fly for fun or use to take pictures.

“The drone I use weighs about 100 pounds with the battery in it,” Cory notes. “The battery itself weighs 30 pounds.”

When he heads out to a job, Cory jumps in his pickup and pulls his trailer that has the drone, tanks for mixing product and generators to power the operation.

“I have three batteries for the drone,” he comments. “One is in the drone, another one is cooling down after being taken out of the drone and the third one is in the charger so it is ready to go in the drone. It’s a rotational system.”

According to Cory, his drone can hold 10.5 gallons of product and sprays a 32-foot wide swath.

“It is traveling at about 22 miles per hour when I am spraying,” he says. “It will go even faster when I am not spraying.”

Cory shares it takes him about an hour to spray a 40-acre field.

When he arrives at a field, he first uses the drone to map the boundaries, wet spots and any obstructions which might be in the area.

“The rates of application, the width of coverage and everything else is programmed in,” Cory explains. “After that, it’s autonomous. I am just there to observe.”

Cory reveals his first year of operation was an interesting one.

“With all of the rain and crops not doing well because of the excess of water, farmers were hesitant, and rightfully so, to put more money into their crop,” he says. “And then I got busy with football practice about the time I could have had some more business.”

In fact, Cory shares he was sitting in study hall during the first week of school when his phone buzzed.

“It was someone wondering if I could come and do some spraying,” he laughs. “I had to say no because I was in school.”

Cory estimates the cost of buying a drone like his would be close to $50,000 today.

“And then you need a trailer and something to pull it with,” he adds.

Asked what his friends and classmates think about him owning his own business, Cory chuckles and says, “They just want free sweatshirts.”

After completing his senior year in high school Cory shares he is planning on staying involved in agriculture.

“I want to do something in ag whether it is in ag business or agronomy,” he says. “Eventually, I would like to farm with my dad.”

Since he already owns his own ag business at the age of 18, it would appear Cory is well on his way to meeting his goals.