Hidden Realities of Contract Camera Spraying

As farmers, you are always getting told what is what, from the price you have to pay for inputs through to the price of your grain.

We do not set the price for our wheat or barley; the global market does.

It is pretty mad. I wonder how that would go if you walked into a car dealership and told them the price!

Anyhow, right now we are being told the demand for grain is low, therefore our prices are affected.

Yet, the cost of running gear, depreciation, chemicals, diesel, and machinery is skyrocketing.

We cannot stop wars or fix global grain prices.

The only way we can pull it together is to save our margins by creating efficiency inside our businesses and improving on-farm productivity.

So I suppose this is where systems like See & Spray come in, but is it at an affordable cost?

Is the Investment into Tech Like JD’s See & Spray Worth It?

If you want a JD 616R with See & Spray Ultimate loaded onto a drop deck and delivered, you are staring down the barrel of $1.4 million.

The 412Rs sit around $1.2 million.

That is a solid amount of capital tied up in one sprayer.

I am going to do a Dillon here and go down a deep rabbit hole, then climb us back out!

After all, that is what I do and that is how Broadacre Contracting was created!

Hear me out here. Land in Merredin, WA goes for around $1,500/ha. That $1.4 million would get you around 930 hectares of country.

If that country yields around 1.2 tonne of canola and canola is $725 to $746 per tonne FIS according to governing bodies, that is around $809k.

Yes, there are input costs involved, but paddock prep costs are low in that area.

I know I am going deep down the rabbit hole here and there are a heap of variables at play, but the point is pretty bloody clear!

The price of this gear in 2026 for productivity and efficiency is mad!

When you compare buying a sprayer to bolting on country to your established holding, the question remains…

Retrofitting vs Reality of Camera Spraying

So what options do we have outside of the self-propelled sprayers and big dealers?

If we try to save money and fit Weed-IT or WeedSeeker setups to our existing booms, we are looking at roughly $6,000 to $8,000 per metre.

That means for a standard 36m boom, we are spending $250,000+ for cameras and plumbing.

If we go for a brand new trailing sprayer, 36m, with Weed-IT fully fitted, we are looking at roughly $450,000 to $650,000, depending on the tank size.

So now we have to come out of the rabbit hole that I got us into!

After all, it is better to see daylight than just complete darkness.

What is right and what is wrong? Well, the person writing this cannot tell you. It varies from business to business and those businesses’ needs.

It comes back to a few questions, like:

Efficiency and productivity are like a drug. Once we get a taste of it, we will be forever looking for it.

It is what leaves us with a little bit of control in our businesses.

I am going to finish with, at the end of the working day, there is no right or wrong, and that is bloody farming!

Camera Spraying Contracting – A Good Choice for Our Dilemma?

Everything lines up, we see value, but is the capital better elsewhere?

There is no right answer, but of course, we are going to say yes to contracting because it suits us!

That is the typical business approach, but there are a few issues when engaging with contractors.

After all, having contractors can be the best when done right, but the worst experience if not.

To make it the best, both parties just need clear communication, respect for each other, reliability and responsibility.

If those things can be met and set up, then having a contractor in to provide this productivity and efficient tech whilst you put your capital into something that gives you a better return is a win for all.

Weed-IT, WeedSeeker and See & Spray Contractors

Camera spraying technology continues to grow across Australian agriculture.

Growers looking into different systems can learn more through resources like the GRDC optical spot sprayers resource, John Deere See & Spray Select, WEED-IT optical spot spraying and WeedSeeker2 information.

Broadacre Contracting community members are expected to work under all of that with good quality gear and attitude.

Anyway, at least you now know where to go, or hopefully, you have at least better insight from this.